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This article is presented as a defence of voluntary active euthanasia from a virtue perspective and it is written with the objective of generating debate and challenging the assumption that killing is necessarily vicious in all circumstances. Practitioners are often torn between acting from virtue and acting from duty. In the case presented the physician was governed by compassion and this illustrates how good people may have the courage to sacrifice their own security in the interests of virtue. The doctor's action created huge tensions for the nurse, who was governed by the code of conduct and relevant laws. Appraising active euthanasia from a virtue perspective can offer a more compassionate approach to the predicament of practitioners and clients. The tensions arising from the virtue versus rules debate generates irreconcilable difficulties for nurses. A shift towards virtue would help to resolve this problem and support the call for a change in the law. The controversial nature of this position is acknowledged. The argument is put forward on the understanding that many practitioners will not agree with the conclusions reached.

Because of their responsibilities for providing high-quality care, at times when they are continuously confronted with inherent professional and ethical challenges, nurses should meet high ethical standards of practice and conduct. Contrary to other countries, where codes of ethics for nurses are formulated to support those standards and to guide nurses' professional practice, Belgian nurses do not have a formal code of ethics. Nevertheless, professional ethics is recognized as an important aspect in legal and other professional documents. The aim of this article is to illustrate that codes of ethics are not the only professional documents reflecting nurses' values, norms and responsibilities. Other documents can also set out professional nursing ethics, and as such replace codes of ethics.

In this article we consider some of the implications of the UK Human Rights Act 1998 for nurses in practice. The Act has implications for all aspects of social life in Britain, particularly for health care. We provide an introduction to the discourse of rights in health care and discuss some aspects of four articles from the Act. The reciprocal relationship between rights and obligations prompted us to consider also the relationship between guidelines in the United Kingdom Central Council's Code of professional conduct and the requirements of the Human Rights Act 1998. We conclude with the recommendation that the new legislation should be welcomed for its potential to support good practice and to urge critical and reflective practice rather than as yet another burdensome bureaucratic imposition.