Nursing by agreement: a contractarian perspective on nursing ethics.

Contractarianism has primarily been a political theory. A good argument can be made for its application to individual and professional ethics. A contractarian perspective on nursing ethics not only provides useful insights into the central relationship in nursing--the nurse and the patient--but also allows understanding of that relationship in the context of other relationships involving the nurse, the nursing profession, and the health care organization. While the nurse-patient contract is limited, its greater moral depth gives it moral priority.