The Foreign Exchange Market

The Foreign Exchange Market The foreign exchange market is the market where one currency is traded for another. This market is somewhat similar to the over the counter market in securities. The trading in currencies is usually accomplished over the telephone or through the telex. With direct dialing telephone service anywhere in the word, foreign exchange markets have become truly global in the sense that currency transactions now require only a single telephone call and take place twenty four hours per day. The different monetary centers are connected by a telephone network and video screens and are in constant contact with one another, thus forming a single international foreign exchange market. However, the currencies and the extent of the participation of each currency in this market depend on local regulations, which vary form country to country. Chapter 1 deals with the introduction and conceptual framework of foreign exchange market in India. It also deals with the structure of Indian Forex Market. Chapter 2 deals with the literature review of organization and regulation of forex market as well as management of exchange risk, exchange rate mechanism. Chapter 3 deals with the methodology adopted in the research process outlining the objectives of the study, methods of data collection and limitations faced while conducting the study. Chapter 4 deals with the data analysis of the foreign exchange market in India. It covers the long term and short term factors which account to the problems. Chapter 5 deals with the conclusion, recommendations and future prospects of forex market in India. Chapter1 Conceptual Framework of forex Market Theory of Foreign exchange The term foreign exchange is normally used to denote foreign currency surrendered or asked for in any of its current forms, i.e. a currency note or a negotiable instrument or transfer of funds through cable or mail transfer or a letter of credit transaction requiring sale and purchase of foreign exchange or conversion of one currency into another, either at the local center or an overseas center. The banks, dealing in for exchange and providing facilities for conversion of one currency into another or vice versa are known as Authorized Dealers or Dealers in Foreign Exchange. A bank is said to buy or sell foreign exchange when it handles the claims drawn in foreign currency or the actual legal tender money, i.e., foreign currency notes and coins of other countries. The theory of Foreign exchange covers different means and methods by which the claims expressed in terms of one currency are converted into another currency and specifically deal with the rates at which such conversion takes place. With partial or complete exchange control, as exercised by countries since World War II exchange markets are no longer free. Exchange rates today are not entirely determined by market forces but are officially fixed and maintained by Central Monetary Authorities. Fluctuations in exchange rates are permitted by authorities only within narrow limits,. And official rates often very different to what they would be if natural forces were allowed to operate. Forex Markets The foreign exchange market, like the market for any other commodity, comprises of buyers and sellers of foreign currencies. The operations in the foreign exchange market originate in the requirements of customers for making remittances to and receiving them from other countries. But the bulk of transactions take place among banks dealing in foreign exchange for their own requirements as they do cover operations. Banks undertake large and frequent deals with other banks through the agency of Exchange Brokers, and it is these deals which give the market its significance. In addition, there are other transactions which take place in the foreign exchange market. All transactions of the exchange market may be divided into five categories: Transactions between banks and their customers. Transactions between different banks in the same centre. Dealings between banks in a country and their correspondents, and overseas branches. The purchase and sale of currencies between the central bank of a country and the commercial banks. The transactions of the central banks of one country, with central banks of other countries. There is not much difference between one market and another as far as the international transaction between markets at different centres is concerned. But local dealings, among members of the same market are organized in two different forms. One of them is the pattern adopted in Great Britain, U.S. A. and some other countries, where foreign exchange dealers never meet each other but transact business through a network of telephone lines linking the banks, with exchange brokers who act as intermediaries. In India also the foreign exchange market is organized on these lines. The other type is the markets in countries of Western Europe, where the dealers in Foreign exchange meet on every working day at a meeting place for business proposals-They fix the exchange rates for certain kind of business particularly with-customers. The foreign exchange markets in these countries are like commodity exchange or stock exchange. However, the global important of these markets, is comparatively smal l. Indian Foreign Exchange Market The Indian foreign exchange market, broadly concentrated in big cities, is a three-tier market. The first tier covers the transactions between the Reserve Bank and Authorized Dealers (Ads). As per the Foreign Regulation Act, the responsibility and authority of foreign exchange administration is vested with the RBI. It is the apex body in this area and for its own convenience, has delegated its responsibility of foreign exchange transaction functions to Ads, primarily the scheduled commercial banks. They have formed the Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India which framers rules regarding the conduct of business, coordinates with the RBI in the proper administration of foreign exchange control and acts as a clearing house for information among Ads. Besides the commercial banks, there are money- changers operating on the periphery. They are well-established firms and hotels doing this business under license from the RBI. In the first tier of the market, the RBI buys and sells for eign currency from and to Ads according to the exchange control regulations in force from time to time. Prior to the introduction of the Liberalized Exchange Management System, Ads had to sell foreign currency acquired by them from the primary market at rates administered by the RBI. The latter too sold pounds sterling or US dollars, spot as well as forward, to Ads to cover the latters primary market requirements. But with the unified exchange rate system, the RBI now intervenes in the market to stabilize the value of the rupee. The second of the market is the inter-bank market where Ads transaction business among themselves. They normally do their business within the country, but they can transact business also with overseas bank in order to cover their own position. Through they can do it independently, they do it normally through a recognized broker. The brokers are not allowed to execute any deals on their own account or for the purpose of jobbing. Within the country, the inter-bank transactions can be both sport and forwards. These may be swap transactions. Any permitted currency can be sued. But while dealing with the overseas Ads, because the Indian market lacks depth in other currencies; the Indian banks can deal mainly in two currencies, viz, the US branches must cover only genuine transactions relating to a customer in India or for the purpose of adjusting or squaring the banks own position. Forward trading with overseas banks is also allowed if it is done for the above two purpose, that is for cov ering genuine transactions or for squaring the currency position, and does not exceed a period of six months. In case the import is made on deferred payment terms and the period exceeds six months, permission has to be obtained from the RBI. Cancellation of forward contracts is allowed in India, although it has to be referred to the RBI. Previously, the banks used to get the forward transactions covered with the RBI, but since 1994-95 the RBI has stopped giving this cover and has permitted the banks to trade freely in the forward market. Cancellation of a forward contract involves entering into a reverse transaction at the going rate. Suppose US $1,000 was bough forward on 1 February for three months at Rs. 40/US $. On 1 March, it is cancelled involving selling the US dollar at the rate prevalent on this day. If the exchange rate on 1 March is Rs. 39.50/US $ there will be a loss of Rs. 500 (the dollar sold for Rs. 39.5 minus dollar bought at Rs. 40.00). The loss is borne by the customer. If the value of the US dollar is greater on the cancellation day, the customer shall reap the profit. The third tier of the foreign exchange market is represented by the primary market where Ads transact in foreign currency with the customers. The very existence of this tier is the outcome of the legal provision that all foreign exchange transactions of the Indian residents must take place through Ads. The tourists exchange currency, exporters and importers exchange currency, and all these transactions come under the primary market Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Organization And Regulation of Forex Market The Foreign Exchange department, which is also being called as the International Banking Division, is one of the important departments of the banks operating in international market. In India also all scheduled commercial banks, both in the nationalized or non-nationalized sectors, do have Foreign Exchange departments, both at their principal offices as well as offices, in metropolitan centers. This department functions independently under the overall change of some senior executive or a senior officer well-versed in foreign exchange operations as well as in the rules and regulations in force from time to time pertaining to foreign exchange transactions advised by various government agencies. The principal function of a Foreign exchange department is to handle foreign inward remittances as well as outward remittances; buying and selling of foreign currencies, handling and forwarding of import and export documents and giving the consultancy services to the exporters and importers. Besides this, the department also gives the financial assistance in relation to the foreign trade, i.e., it gives assistance to the exporters by way of financing the exports and imports by giving them the financial assistance to clear the consignments or open a letter of credit. The department issues letters of credit for their importer clients and handles letters of credit received from overseas correspondents in favour of exporters from India. Issuance of Performance and the Bid Bond guarantees and tender document is also one of the important functions of the banks that are dealing I foreign exchange. In India, the banks doing foreign exchange business are issued a license to this effect by the Reserve Bank of India under Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. No bank, not having such license to deal in foreign exchange, can handle foreign exchange operations. Besides Authorized Dealers, licenses are also issued to the Dealers with limited powers to change foreign currency notes, coins and travellers cheques. Such licensees are known as Authorized Money Changers. 2.1 Organisation of A Foreign Exchange Department The foreign exchange department of a medium or large sized-bank can be divided into various department and sections such department are locked after by a senior person not lower than the category of a branch manager having both administrative and operational know-how as well as discretionary powers for advances required from time to time by the clients. The in charge of the department functions independently within the overall framework laid down by the Management of the bank. The in charge is assisted in hid day-to-day work by a team of officers, and workmen. One of the important functions of the Foreign exchange department, beside banking operations, is to maintain liaison and correspondence relations with overseas banks who may be their correspondents. SECTION OF THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT The Foreign exchange department is divided into number of sections, each one equally important and looked after by one officer or a department head. A particular section can be sub-divided into sub-section with specific duties allotted. The sections in Foreign exchange department can be broadly stated as under: 1. Dealers Section This section is the nerve of the foreign exchange department as the exchange rates are computed and advised by this section. The exchange rates are the on a foreign exchange and so any incorrect fixation of rates (price) will turn the profits of the bank into losses and instead of earning from the foreign exchange transactions, the bank may keep on losing. This section is headed by an officer who is called a Dealer. In the morning, before the banking hours begin, the exchange rates of various currencies are computed. The rates are computed on the basis of certain fixed principles which may by either market quotations or any such approved channel. In India, the Dealer works out the exchange rates on cross rate method based on the sterling rate schedule fixed and advised by FEDAI vis-à  -vis the previous days closing rates in London market. This department calculates and advised both the ready rates as well as forward rates as and when requested. Besides rate computation, it also look s after the foreign currency accounts of the bank and supervises the balancing position in foreign currency accounts maintained abroad. It also controls the exchange position of the department and reconciles the various entries put forth by other sections both for buying as well as selling of foreign exchange. In addition, the section also calculates and tabulates the statistical data required by the principal office of the bank concerned, as well as the Exchange Control Department of the Reserve Bank of India. Such statistics prepared by the bank are to be reported to the authorities on the prescribed forms at the prescribed intervals. This data is very essential and of prime important as the Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments position is arrived at only from the statistics provided by the banks. From the data available from the banks even the import policy is formed and other fiscal measure adopted by the monetary authorities from time to time depend. This section can be further sub-divided into following subsections: Rate calculation and advising Forward Exchange contracts Foreign currency Accounts Exchange position and control, and Reconciliation of Foreign Currency Accounts. 2. Foreign Remittances Section This section deals with the inward and outward remittances received in the country and sent outside, both on behalf of the transactions taken up by residents and non-residents. Foreign remittances are carried out in the form of cable transfers, mail transfers, demand drafts, travelers cheques and payment instructions by letters. All these forms are widely used both for inward remittances as well as outward remittances. The officer of this particular department has to be quite well-versed with various regulations in force from time to time and the amendments thereto as strict exchange control regulations are prevailing specially in case of outward remittances in developing and underdeveloped countries, due to the adverse balance of payments position, depleting foreign exchange reserves, and available resources required to meet with development programmes and national exigencies. This department also keeps Test Key arrangements used for transmitting the instructions by cable, as in cab le transfers no signature of the remitting bank is possible. So messages are computed with a particular number known as code or cipher. This code or cipher is recomputed at the other centre on the basis of the test arrangements exchanged between the two banks. In foreign exchange, whatever the reason may be irrespective of the amount, the entire gamut is focused around the inward and outward remittances and so this section is of prime importance. The remittances are converted into local currency in case of inward remittances and in foreign currency in case of outward remittances at the prevailing rate of exchange on the date of each transaction or a forward exchange rate if exchange rate if exchange is already booked earlier. So, the remittance department has to keep a close contact with Dealers section, both for getting the rates and also advising them the funds position which changes from time to time due to the remittances flowing in either direction. 3. Import Section Import section can be sub-divided into import letters of credit both opening and payment thereof, issue of Bid guarantees, performance guarantees and guarantees to Government agencies for release of import consignment, import documents received on collection basis and imports on consignment basis. Import section has to keep in touch with latest developments in international markets as well as the rules and regulations in force in various centres to take up the import business at right earnest without violating the rules and regulations. Both in developing and developed countries, there are Import and Export Trade Control Regulations and such regulations are enforced through a licensing procedure. Hence the Import section has to take care of the Import Trade Control Regulations as well as Exchange Control Regulations before allowing import transactions to be put through. 4. Export Section The section deals with various exchange operations arising out of export trade. The principal functions of this sub-section are: Advising and confirming letters of credit received from abroad: Extending financial assistance to exporters as and when required. Acting as an agent for collection on behalf of the clients; Negotiation of export bills drawn under letters of Credit whereby the dealer acts as an agent of overseas bank and facilitates smooth function/operation of international trade; and Acting as an authorized channel appointed by Central Banking Authority to receive the export proceeds. 5. Statistics Section This section collects the sales and purchase figures from various departments along with necessary exchange control forms, tabulates then and submits a periodical report by way of statements and returns to the Exchange Control Department of the Reserve Bank of India under whose authority it operates. This reports is also being submitted from time to time in one form or the other to the head office of the concerned bank to enable it to compile the overall position of the foreign exchange preferably of the bank as a whole. 2.2 Exchange Regulation in India Exchange Control Regulations were first introduced in our country on 3rd September, 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. The control was introduced under the guidelines of Bank of England and also as a measure under the Defence of India rules to conserve and augment the foreign exchange resources of India to meet the defence requirements for Britishers. It primary objective was to conserve the foreign exchange resources, which needed to be diversified due to changed circumstances. It was initially introduced as a temporary device to meet the emergency situation arisen due to Second World War. In May, 1944 the Defence of India Rules were lifted and all emergency provisions promulgated during the Defence of India Rules were ineffective. But the Government of India was not in a position to lift the Exchange Control Regulations due to the strain on the sterling balances; The Exchange Control Regulations were kept alive under a new law named as Emergency Provisions Continuance Act of 1994. The Exchange Control was put on a permanent Statute and the First Foreign Exchange Regulations Act came into existence on 25th March, 1947 as a full fledged foreign Exchange Regulations Act. The system of control adopted in 1947 was structurally identical to provisions laid down in 1939 at the inception of the control, but important changes in detail were introduced in FERA 1947 to meet the specific requirements of the situation and to protect the interests of independent India. The Foreign Exchange Regulations Act (FERA) of 1947 has now been replaced by the FERA, 1973. Basic structure of the Exchange Control Regulations is till not very much divergent that the earlier ones, but keeping in view the economic conditions and balance of payments positions, certain new provisions have been included and the control has been made more comprehensive. Under the Act of 1973, the Authorized Dealers have been given wider powers for releasing foreign exchange to the residents in India and a strict view has been taken of the non-resident interests. I) BROAD FEATURES OF EXCHANGE CONTROL There is an elaborate machinery to enforce Exchange Control Regulations in our country. The machinery comprises of the controller of the Exchange Control department of the Reserve Bank of India at the helm of affairs, which in turn has empowered the Banks dealing in foreign exchange to deal with general public for their foreign exchange requirements. This authority enforces the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act and has the powers to deal with any infringement or violation of the provisions of the Act. II) THE FERA AND THE EXCHANGE CONTROL MANUAL All the provisions of the FERA have been transcribed in the banking terminology by the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate the day to day transactions between Reserve Bank, between the various dealers and the general public. Exchange control in India is administered by the Reserve Bank of India in accordance with the general policy laid down by the Union Government in consultation with the Reserve Bank. The Bank has an Exchange Control Department which is entrusted with this functions. Under the system, the Reserve Bank is authorized to license export of gold, silver, currency notes, securities, and a variety of other transactions involving the sue of foreign exchange. For foreign exchange transactions, which the general public conducts with the authorized dealers in foreign exchange, the Reserve Bank of India has laid down general instructions for the guidance of the latter. The directions cover all transactions relating to imports and exports, foreign travel payments, family maintenance remittances by foreign nationals, transfers of investment income, capital transfers by foreign and Indian Nationals and other invisible items. Some of these transactions particularly those pertaining to capital transfers, have to be referred by the authorized dealers to the Reserve Bank for its prior approval. Some remittances may, however, be made by the authorized dealers without prior approval of the Reserve Bank, such as those for foreign Nationals seeking to remit a part of their, earnings for the maintenance of their families abroad, provided the amounts are within limits specified by the Reserve Bank. The institutional framework of the exchange control system also compromised of a special machinery for enforcement and for dealing with any infringements of the provisions of the Act. The function is entrusted to the Directorate of Enforcement attached to the Union Ministry of Finance. The directorate deals with offenders who violate the control provisions and is authorized to take punitive action. It is also empowered to adjudicate in certain cases of infringement. III) Purchases and Sales by Authorized Dealers Authorized dealers purchase and sell foreign currencies in accordance with the regulations. Purchase: They purchase T.Ts., M.Ts., drafts, bill etc., freely from banks and the general public. The receipt of remittances from any country is free and banks are, therefore allowed to purchase freely. Purchase of foreign currencies is also done from their overseas branches and correspondents for the purpose of making rupee payments into non-resident accounts in India and also for making payments to residents. The authorized dealers and authorized moneychangers purchase foreign currency notes, coins, and travellers, cheques from travellers coming from abroad. The amounts purchased are endorsed on the reverse of the customs stamped currency declaration forms of the travellers. Foreign currency notes and coins are also purchased from other authorized dealers and money changers. Sales; Sales of foreign currency are made by authorized dealers subject to control regulations. No remittances may be made to countries advised from time to time and no transactions may be carried out with persons, firms or banks residents in those countries. For the purpose of sales persons, firms, and banks residents in Nepal are treated as non- residents. 2.3 Exchange Rate Mechanism in India India is a founder member of the IMF. It followed the fixed parity system till the early 1970s as a result which the value of the rupee in terms of gold was originally fixed as the equivalent of 0.268601 gram of fine gold. In view of Indias long economic and political relations with England and membership of the sterling area from September 1939 to June 1972, the rupee was pegged to the pound sterling. The exchange rate was thus remained unchanged but the gold content of the rupee fell to 0.186621 gram. Again, with the devaluation of the Indian rupee in June 1996 the gold content fell further to 0.118489 gram. The following year, the pound was also devalued. This devaluation did have an impact on the rupee pound link, but the rupee was kept stable in terms of the pound. The latter continued as an intervention currency. In August 1971 when the system of fixed parity was under a cloud, the rupee was briefly pegged to the US dollar at Rs. 7.50/US $ and this continued till December 1971. The peg to the dollar was not very effective as the pound sterling remained to continue as the intervention currency. In December 1971, the rupee returned to the sterling peg at a parity of Rs. 18.9677/ £ with of course , a margin of  ±2.2 S percent. After the Smithsonian arrangement had failed and the pound had began to float, the rupee tended to depreciate. The reserve Bank then had to delink it from the pound sterling in September 1975 and link it with a basket of five currencies; but the pound sterling was retained as the intervention currency for fixing the external value of the rupee. The weight of different currencies forming the basket remained confidential and the exchange rate continued to be administered. The administered rate did not keep pace with the growing rate of inflation and this resulted in a widening gap between the real and the nominal exchange rates that was more evident during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thus, when economic reforms were initiated in the country, the rupee was depreciated by around 20 percent in two successive instalments in the first weeks of July 1991. In absolute terms, depreciation occurred from Rs. 21.201/US $ to Rs. 25.80 /US $ From March 1992 a dual exchange rate system was introduced, in terms of which 40 percent of export earnings were to be converted at the official exchange rate prescribed by the Reserve Bank and the remaining 60 percent were to be converted at market determined rates. The US dollar was he intervention currency. From March 1993 the receipts on merchandise trade account and some of the items of invisible trade account came to be convertible entirely at the market determined rates on all items of current account. The adoption of the unified exchange rate system form March 1993 means adoption of a floating-rate regime, but it is a managed floating and the reserve Bank of India intervenes in the foreign exchange market in order to influence the value of the rupee. In the first two years, the value of the rupee remained stable but the onward, it has been depreciating despite RBIs intervention. 2.4 Management of Exchange Risk Risk Hedging tools in Forex Market In recent years financial markets have developed many new products whose popularity has become phenomenal. Measured in terms of trading volume, the growth of these products principally futures and options has confused traditional investors. Although active markets in futures and options contracts for physicals commodities have only recently attracted Internet. Multinational Companies normally use the spot and forward markets for international transactions. They also use currency futures, currency options, and currency futures options for various corporate functions. While speculators trade currencies in these three markets for profit, multilingual companies use them to cover open positions in foreign currencies. 2.4 (a) Forward contract Forward Exchange Forward exchange is a device to protect traders against risk arising out of fluctuations in exchange rates. A trader, who has to make or receive payment in foreign currency at the end of a given period, may find at the time of payment or receipt that the foreign currency has appreciated or depreciated. Ifthe currency moves down or gets depreciated the trader will be att a loss as he will get lesser units of home currency for a given amount of foreign currency, which he was holding. Similarly, an importer, who was contracted to make payment of a given amount in pound sterling at the end of a given period, may find that at the time of payment, the rupee sterling rate is higher. He would then have to pay more in rupees than what it would have been at the time when the contract was made. To protect traders against such risks of appreciation and getting lesser amount of home currency, there is a device in exchange market of booking forward exchange contracts. The emergence of forward exchange contracts has been due to the rate fluctuations and possible losses that the traders might have to suffer in their foreign exchange business. The forward exchange transaction is an umbrella which gives protection to the dealers against the adverse movement of exchange rates. The forward exchange market in fact came into existence when the exchange rates were highly unstable following the abandonment of the gold standard by most of the countries at the end of first and Second World Wars. There are other means of taking care of the risks of the adverse effects of the exchange rate fluctuations such as including the Escalation Clause in the sale and purchase contracts entered between the buyers and sellers or fixing a parity rate between the home currency and foreign currency and an y variation in the fixed parity entered into between the importers and exporters, the exchange risks will be passed on as per the terms of the contract. Escalation clause is more adaptable in contracts amounting to a very large volume,. especially in contracts entered into on deferred payment terms. Forward Exchange Contracts Under option forward exchange contracts, the customers has an option to receive or deliver the contract

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption :: essays research papers

The story of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption begins in 1948 when Andy Dufresne arrives at Shawshank prison. In contrast to most other convicts, he's not a hardened criminal but a soft-spoken banker, convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Like everyone in Shawshank, he claims to be innocent. Like most newcomers, Andy gets in trouble with the sisters. They are a gang of sodomites led by Bogs Diamond that gang up on anyone they feel they can handle, and Andy is no exception. Not until much later does he escape their attentions. Red, the narrator of the story, is known as the guy who can get stuff. His ability to deliver contraband of almost any type into Shawshank makes him somewhat of a celebrity among prisoners, and it's also the reason that Andy approaches him. Andy's hobby outside the walls was rock-carving, and now he has immense amounts of free time on his hands, so he asks Red to get him a rock hammer. He uses this to shape small rocks he finds in the exercise yard into small sculptures. The next item he orders from Red is a large poster of Rita Hayworth. When taking the order, Red reflects that Andy is excited like a teenager just for ordering a pin-up poster, but doesn't think more of it then. One spring day, Andy and Red and some other prisoners are tarring a roof when Andy overhears a guard griping over the amount of tax he will have to pay on an inheritance he has just gotten from a run-away brother. Andy approaches him (almost getting thrown off the roof in the process) and tells him that there are legal ways to avoid taxation. He offers to help him with all the necessary paperwork for the operation, in exchange for some beer for himself and the other prisoners on the roof. This is the beginning of a long stretch of economic work for Andy. More and more of the screws discover that they can use him for tax returns, loan applications, and other things like that. In return for his help, he gets protection from the sisters and is allowed to stay alone in his cell instead of having a cellmate like most other prisoners. For a short period, he shares a cell with an Indian called Normaden, but he soon leaves again. He keeps complaining about the draught in the cell while there.

Nursing ethics

The ethical concerns that I have related to this dilemma are many. What is the doctor’s responsibility to try to stop the mother’s contractions? What are the limits of the attempts that should be made to save the child?   Should the mother be allowed to risk her own life to attempt to save the life of a child that is probably not viable outside the womb? Should the doctor plan a cesarean section despite the fact that the infant will probably die as soon as it is removed from the mother’s womb?   I can’t imagine making this decision personally, but many mothers are forced to make it every day. Here is the situation that lead to my ethical quandary.I have a patient who is 3 week ante partum and has had premature rupture of membranes. This condition could cause hemorrhaging for her and death of the infant in uterus. In layman’s terms, both she and the infant are at risk of death. She is starting to contract and the physician will not do anything si nce the fetus is not considered viable. The physician has described the issues of having a vaginal birth versus a cesarean section with this patient because the fetus is breech.The patient wants everything to be done to save this baby. As described above, the issues are exceedingly complex. The physician appears to have determined that the child is a lost cause and is thinking only of the health of the mother, but this is contrary to her wishes. Should the mother’s desire to save her child be allowed to override her own survival instincts? And, what role, if any, should the child’s father have in decision-making process?My literature survey for this situation was amazingly frustrating. I expected there to be a great deal of study materials available regarding this topic. It is, in essence, the quintessential ethical debate: do you save the life of the mother or the life of the child?   And, there is the question of the doctor’s ethics. Should he be able to det ermine the best medical course of action if it is contrary to the mother’s wishes? And, who determines when a fetus is viable? Can we allow it to be based on an arbitrary date?I found a lot of older research regarding the ethics of abortion and approaching the discussion of fetal viability from that point of view, but there was nothing recent and nothing than dealt with miscarriages as opposed to abortion. And, there was nothing that talked about the discussion of the life of the mother versus the life of the child. I think this would clearly be a great place for additional study.I think specifically the ethical question of whether medical decisions should be made contrary to the patient’s wishes should also be considered. Right now, as a society, we allow a person to make their own decisions about their health care even though we do not allow them to determine when or how they die.What I did find were several articles regarding the mental trauma that miscarriage and s tillbirth inflict on the mother and an interesting article promoting the development of advanced directives regarding pregnancy health care. Of all the articles, this is the one that I found most interesting and directly applicable to the situation at hand.In this article, Anita Caitlin proposes that obstetricians think outside the box and promote the development of advanced directives for prenatal and delivery care.   The proposal is simple, just as a person can create a living will for care during a terminal illness or traumatic injury, a pregnant woman would in her early weeks of pregnancy discuss in depth with her doctor the potential things that could go wrong and develop a plan of action.   For instance, a woman would decide at the very beginning of the pregnancy what circumstances would lead to her decision for a cesarean section (Caitlin, 2005).This would eliminate the need to make the decision during a high stress time, since we can assume that such decision would cause stress, and at a time that the mother’s mental and emotional state is impacted by the high levels of hormones associated with pregnancy. I understand that being able to hold a woman to the advanced directives would be impossible, but a woman could elect to rely on the already issued directive and not add the trauma of making a decision to an already stressful time.This would also allow the person to discuss the eventualities with those whom she believes have a right to have a say in her life instead of just those that the laws say have a right to assist with her decision-making (next of kin, when the patient is incapacitated).Another article that drew my attention that I found in my literature review was a discussion about the ethical concerns some doctors have about making medical recommendations that are contrary to their own moral and ethical beliefs.â€Å"A growing number of doctors, nurses, and pharmacies are refusing to provide, refer, or even tell their patients abou t care options that they feel are not in keeping with their own personal religious beliefs,† stated Barbara Kavadias, Director of Field Services at the Religious Coalition and leader of the three-year project that created In Good Conscience. â€Å"Institutions are refusing to provide essential care, citing their religious commitments.† (Bioweek, 2007)This is a growing ethical trend in medical care that I have some major concerns with. Take, for instance, the case of my current patient. If she were (or is) being treated by a doctor who believes all life is sacred, he might be willing to risk the life of the mother in an effort to try to save the child. In this case, it is difficult to determine how a person with these moral concerns might treat the patient. Taking the child via c-section is probably the best for option to preserve the mother’s life. It may result in the immediate death of the fetus. Waiting and trying to abate the mother’s contractions may provide the child with a greater chance of survival, but also puts extra risk on the mother’s life. At that point, what are the criteria used by those with this moral outlook to determine the proper course of action?These questions are likely to grow in controversy as technology increases and the fetus is increasingly viable outside of the womb. The more that society becomes able to keep a child alive without the benefit of the mother, the more questions regarding the ethics of doing so or not doing so will grow in prominence. It is absolutely possible that with increasing medical technology and the ability to prolong life we will have additional debates regarding who gets to determine what lives are worth saving and what lives are lost.I believe that a trend toward making informed decisions is a good one and a move in the right direction, taking people away from having to make a decision in a crisis situation. I also think that it is worthwhile to discuss the role of the fat her in the decision-making process. Because of the trend toward increasing women’s rights and in an effort to prevent a return to the days of the complete male dominance, society appears to be moving away from the rights of a souse to have a say in decisions that affect them.For example, the birth of a child is an 18-year (minimum) commitment for men as well and in an effort to secure the rights of women, we have completely removed the father from the decision-making process. As a human, I believe that ultimate control of a person’s body should be his or her own, but it is also reasonable to believe that a spouse (or life partner) should have some say in the decision. In the case of m patient, I cannot believe that a loving partner would encourage her to risk her own life for the tiny chance to save a child which would already have been lost if not for technology.Works CitedCaitlin, Anita. â€Å"Thinking Outside the Box: Prenatal Care and the Call for a Prenatal Advan ce Directive†Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing. Frederick: Apr-Jun 2005. Vol. 19, Iss. 2; pg. 169.Geller, Pamela A. â€Å"Understanding distress in the aftermath of miscarriage† Network News. Washington: Sep/Oct 2002. Vol. 27, Iss. 5; pg. 4.Klier, C. M. , P. A. Geller, J. B. Ritsher. â€Å"Affective disorders in the aftermath of miscarriage: A comprehensive review†,Archives of Women's Mental Health. Wien: Dec 2002. Vol. 5, Iss. 4; p. 129.‘Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice; Religious Leaders Call for New Efforts to Reverse Growing Imposition of Sectarian Religious Beliefs on Reproductive and End-of-Life Care† Biotech Week. Atlanta: May 9, 2007. pg. 973 Nursing Ethics Nursing EthicsCaring has long been claimed as a concept at the heart of nursing, sometimes described as the thing that distinguishes nursing from other professions. Care is increasingly recognized as the moral foundation, ideal and imperative of nursing. What counts as caring at any particular historical moment is highly dependent on context; meanings of care are historically contingent and change over time. Caring is not just a subjective and material experience but one in which particular historical circumstances, ideologies and power relations create the conditions under which caring can occur, the forms it takes and the consequences it will have for those who undertake it.Ethical selves are shaped by social discourses that situate care in relation to broader formations of gender, religion, class and ethnicity as well as factors such as age, nationality and physical location. Since 1900 no decade has passed without publication of at least one basic text in nursing ethics with one of the first discrete texts on nursing ethics being published as early as 1888 (Orr   2004). Since the inception of modern nursing in the last century, nurses globally have taken seriously their moral responsibilities as health care practitioners; they have also taken seriously the issues which have emerged as a consequence of their attempts to fulfill these responsibilities effectively.As professionals working in the health care domain, very clear that nurses like other health care professionals cannot escape the tensions that are being caused by the radically opposing and competing moral viewpoints that are presently pulling the health care arena and indeed the world apart. An important question to arise here is: how can the nursing profession best respond to this predicament? There is, of course, no simple final answer to this question.Nevertheless there is at least one crucial point that needs to be made, and it is this: it is vitally important that nurses learn to recognize t he cyclical processes of social and cultural change, and realize that they themselves are participants in this change. Once realizing this, they also need to learn that, as participants in these cyclical transformations, they are positioned and have a stringent moral responsibility to sensitively and artfully advocate for the mediation of the extreme and multiple positions they might (and very often do) find themselves caught between. They also have a moral responsibility to facilitate this mediation by acting as mediators themselves.Nursing ethics can be defined broadly as the examination of all kinds of ethical and bioethical issues from the perspective of nursing theory and practice which, in turn, rest on the agreed core concepts of nursing, namely: person, culture, care, health, healing, environment, and nursing itself (Narvà ¡ez & Rest 1994). In this regard, then, contrary to popular belief, nursing ethics is not synonymous with (and indeed is much greater than) an ethic of c are, although an ethic of care has an important place in the overall moral scheme of nursing.Nursing, like other health professionals, encounter many moral problems in the course of their everyday professional practice. These problems range from the relatively simple to the extraordinarily complex, and can cause varying degrees of perplexity and distress in those who encounter them. For instance, some moral problems are relatively easy to resolve and may cause little if any distress to those involved; other problems, however, may be extremely difficult or even impossible to resolve, and may cause a great deal of moral stress and distress for those encountering them.In making an interpretation of the particular situation in which there is a moral problem, persons who have empathy and can take the perspective of others, and who care for others – even people who are quite different from themselves – are likely to exhibit high levels of moral sensitivity. A person must be able to reason about a situation and make a judgment about which course of action is morally right, thus labeling one possible line of action as what ought morally to be done in that situation (Narvà ¡ez & Rest 1994). Both a strong desire to do what is most morally defensible and a strong caring for other humans is necessary in order for a professional person to put aside a possible action that would serve self-interest in favor of the most ethical alternative action.Nurses have as much independent moral responsibility for their actions (and omissions) as they have independent legal responsibility, and are just as accountable for their practice morally as they are legally. Nurses must be accorded the recognition and legitimated authority necessary to enable them to fulfill their many and complex responsibilities as professionals bound by agreed standards of care. It can be seen that the prospects of virtue ethics are indeed promising in nursing ethics.The agreed ethical standards o f nursing require nurses to promote the genuine welfare and wellbeing of people in need of help through nursing care, and to do so in a manner that is safe, competent, therapeutically effective, culturally relevant, and just. These standards also recognize that in the ultimate analysis nurses can never escape the reality that they literally hold human wellbeing in their, and accordingly must act responsively and responsibly to protect it (Bioethics for beginners). These requirements are demonstrably consistent with a virtue theory account of ethics.The nursing profession worldwide has a rich and distinctive history of identifying and responding substantively to ethical issues in nursing and health care domains. In today's highly technical health-care system, there seems to be general agreement that nurses must be rational, logical thinkers who can incorporate the tradition of justice that draws on long-established modes of moral reasoning. Nursing should be a relationship in which c ompassion, competence, confidence, justice, prudence, temperance, caring, honesty, responsibility and commitment are mobilized by the care-giver to promote the health and well-being of those in need of care.The neglect or overemphasis of any one of these would cause for an imbalance in care. Hospital conditions are not those of ordinary life. Nursing deals with the unusual and the abnormal. Within the walls of the hospital nurses find that they must accept all people as they are, and devote themselves mainly to their physical betterment. However, an integrative theory of nursing ethics that synthesizes caring and justice has yet to be developed. Tensions in nursing among loyalty to patients, to physicians, to self, and to employing agencies provide a context for the development of ethics in nursing over the past century and nursing's participation in health care reform today.BibliographyBotes, A. (2000). A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care.   Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32, 1021.Chin, P. L. (2001). Nursing and ethics: The maturing of the discipline. Advances in Nursing Science, 24(2), 63-64.Edwards, N. (1999). Nursing ethics: How did we get here, and what are we doing about it? Surgical Services Management, 5(1), 20-22.Botes, A. (2000). A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35, 1071.Elder, R., Price, J., & Williams, G. (2003). Differences in ethical attitudes between registered nurses and medical students. Nursing Ethics, 10, 149-164.Gatzke, H., & Ransom, J. E. (2001). New skills for the new age: Preparing nurses for the 21st century. Nursing Forum, 36(3), 13-17.Narvà ¡ez, D. and Rest, J. (1994). Moral Development in the Professions: Psychology and Applied Ethics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Orr, Robert D. (2004). â€Å"Ethics & Life's Ending: An Exchange.† First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, 145.Peter, E., & Morgan, K. P. (2000). Exploration of a trust approach for nursing ethics. Nursing Inquiry, 8(3),  10. Nursing Ethics Caring has long been claimed as a concept at the heart of nursing, sometimes described as the thing that distinguishes nursing from other professions. Care is increasingly recognized as the moral foundation, ideal and imperative of nursing. What counts as caring at any particular historical moment is highly dependent on context; meanings of care are historically contingent and change over time. Caring is not just a subjective and material experience but one in which particular historical circumstances, ideologies and power relations create the conditions under which caring can occur, the forms it takes and the consequences it will have for those who undertake it.Ethical selves are shaped by social discourses that situate care in relation to broader formations of gender, religion, class and ethnicity as well as factors such as age, nationality and physical location. Since 1900 no decade has passed without publication of at least one basic text in nursing ethics with one of the first d iscrete texts on nursing ethics being published as early as 1888 (Orr   2004). Since the inception of modern nursing in the last century, nurses globally have taken seriously their moral responsibilities as health care practitioners; they have also taken seriously the issues which have emerged as a consequence of their attempts to fulfill these responsibilities effectively.As professionals working in the health care domain, very clear that nurses like other health care professionals cannot escape the tensions that are being caused by the radically opposing and competing moral viewpoints that are presently pulling the health care arena and indeed the world apart. An important question to arise here is: how can the nursing profession best respond to this predicament? There is, of course, no simple final answer to this question.Nevertheless there is at least one crucial point that needs to be made, and it is this: it is vitally important that nurses learn to recognize the cyclical pr ocesses of social and cultural change, and realize that they themselves are participants in this change. Once realizing this, they also need to learn that, as participants in these cyclical transformations, they are positioned and have a stringent moral responsibility to sensitively and artfully advocate for the mediation of the extreme and multiple positions they might (and very often do) find themselves caught between. They also have a moral responsibility to facilitate this mediation by acting as mediators themselves.Nursing ethics can be defined broadly as the examination of all kinds of ethical and bioethical issues from the perspective of nursing theory and practice which, in turn, rest on the agreed core concepts of nursing, namely: person, culture, care, health, healing, environment, and nursing itself (Narvà ¡ez & Rest 1994). In this regard, then, contrary to popular belief, nursing ethics is not synonymous with (and indeed is much greater than) an ethic of care, although an ethic of care has an important place in the overall moral scheme of nursing. Nursing, like other health professionals, encounter many moral problems in the course of their everyday professional practice.These problems range from the relatively simple to the extraordinarily complex, and can cause varying degrees of perplexity and distress in those who encounter them. For instance, some moral problems are relatively easy to resolve and may cause little if any distress to those involved; other problems, however, may be extremely difficult or even impossible to resolve, and may cause a great deal of moral stress and distress for those encountering them. In making an interpretation of the particular situation in which there is a moral problem, persons who have empathy and can take the perspective of others, and who care for others – even people who are quite different from themselves – are likely to exhibit high levels of moral sensitivity.A person must be able to reason about a situation and make a judgment about which course of action is morally right, thus labeling one possible line of action as what ought morally to be done in that situation (Narvà ¡ez & Rest 1994). Both a strong desire to do what is most morally defensible and a strong caring for other humans is necessary in order for a professional person to put aside a possible action that would serve self-interest in favor of the most ethical alternative action.Nurses have as much independent moral responsibility for their actions (and omissions) as they have independent legal responsibility, and are just as accountable for their practice morally as they are legally. Nurses must be accorded the recognition and legitimated authority necessary to enable them to fulfill their many and complex responsibilities as professionals bound by agreed standards of care. It can be seen that the prospects of virtue ethics are indeed promising in nursing ethics.The agreed ethical standards of nursing requ ire nurses to promote the genuine welfare and wellbeing of people in need of help through nursing care, and to do so in a manner that is safe, competent, therapeutically effective, culturally relevant, and just. These standards also recognize that in the ultimate analysis nurses can never escape the reality that they literally hold human wellbeing in their, and accordingly must act responsively and responsibly to protect it (Bioethics for beginners). These requirements are demonstrably consistent with a virtue theory account of ethics.The nursing profession worldwide has a rich and distinctive history of identifying and responding substantively to ethical issues in nursing and health care domains. In today's highly technical health-care system, there seems to be general agreement that nurses must be rational, logical thinkers who can incorporate the tradition of justice that draws on long-established modes of moral reasoning. Nursing should be a relationship in which compassion, com petence, confidence, justice, prudence, temperance, caring, honesty, responsibility and commitment are mobilized by the care-giver to promote the health and well-being of those in need of care.The neglect or overemphasis of any one of these would cause for an imbalance in care. Hospital conditions are not those of ordinary life. Nursing deals with the unusual and the abnormal. Within the walls of the hospital nurses find that they must accept all people as they are, and devote themselves mainly to their physical betterment. However, an integrative theory of nursing ethics that synthesizes caring and justice has yet to be developed. Tensions in nursing among loyalty to patients, to physicians, to self, and to employing agencies provide a context for the development of ethics in nursing over the past century and nursing's participation in health care reform today.Bibliographyâ€Å"Bioethics for beginners.† Available from: dttp://www.med.upenn.edu/~bioethicBotes, A. (2000). A co mparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care.   Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32, 1021.Chin, P. L. (2001). Nursing and ethics: The maturing of the discipline. Advances in Nursing Science, 24(2), 63-64.Edwards, N. (1999). Nursing ethics: How did we get here, and what are we doing about it? Surgical Services Management, 5(1), 20-22.Botes, A. (2000). A comparison between the ethics of justice and the ethics of care. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35, 1071.Elder, R., Price, J., & Williams, G. (2003). Differences in ethical attitudes between registered nurses and medical students. Nursing Ethics, 10, 149-164.Gatzke, H., & Ransom, J. E. (2001). New skills for the new age: Preparing nurses for the 21st century. Nursing Forum, 36(3), 13-17.Narvà ¡ez, D. and Rest, J. (1994). Moral Development in the Professions: Psychology and Applied Ethics. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Orr, Robert D. (2004). â€Å"Ethics & Life's Ending: An Exchange.† First Things: A M onthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, 145.Peter, E., & Morgan, K. P. (2000). Exploration of a trust approach for nursing ethics. Nursing Inquiry, 8(3),

Compare And Contrast Wigulf And Beowulf - 874 Words

The definition of a hero has changed very little since humankind’s early origins. The case is no different in the story of Beowulf, the mighty Geat king and his nephew, Wiglaf. They are two men who risk their lives for others, and truly care about the well being and state of life of their friends, family, and people. Gold and fame are usually motivators for most so called â€Å"heroes†, but there are three traits required of a true protector of the masses. Although one can make an argument that Beowulf and Wiglaf are selfish heroes for hire, their bravery, strength, and determination demonstrates their moral standings and code of ethics. Bravery, the first of the three core traits, is arguably the most important factor in the making of a†¦show more content†¦Beowulf and Grendel both have monstrous strength. The difference between the two is how they use it. Grendel chooses evil over good, and eats those who try to protect Herot. He meets his match unexpectedly in the heroine of our story while greedily yanking soldiers out of their beds.. Beowulf is so confident in his physical abilities that he grabs hold of Grendel with his bare hands. This epic explains the situation by telling us â€Å"Nothing could take his talons and himself (Grendel) from that tight hard grip†(32). Beowulf makes short work of Grendel and makes him bleed to death whilst running away. Grendel reaches the lair where his mother resides. After his death, his mother seeks revenge. She rushes to Herot and grabs up men. Beowulf seeks and finds her lair without much opposition and grabs a mighty sword. He grabs the giant forged weapon that the epic describes as â€Å"so massive that no ordinary man could lift†(37), and kills Grendel’s mother, showcasing why he is remembered among the legends to this day. The last trait that defines a hero is determination. A determined mind and soul can accomplish things that exceed expectations, and determination is a motivating factor in many rags to riches stories. Beowulf finally earns his one true reward upon his his death. The story tells us that â€Å"His soul fled from his breast to its destined place among the steadfast ones†(48). His determination to