Introduction Ethics in nursing practice entails many facets of professional conduct. This kind of professional commitment is demonstrated through the desire to help, a sense of obligation and a compliance with professional standards. Professional accountability is one of the many important ethical issues when one looks at this closely. This will all depend on one’s sense of responsibility and personal integrity. Professionals are governed by the standards of conduct set forth by their respective professions. Ethics in nursing practice is concerned with the conduct of nurses in performing acts which are deemed ethically right or wrong. Nurses who violate professional ethics may be subject to discipline by nursing associations and may be legally liable for their actions. This paper looks at the ethical standards in patient care and the impact of these ethical issues on health care professionals. It shall focus particularly on euthanasia and its many ramifications in the nursing field. Ability to respond to patients The word ethics comes from the Greek word ethos meaning “habitual usage, conduct and character” (Code of Ethics for Nurses). Today, nurses are faced with ethical and critical decisions on patient care involving new technology which can have potential benefit or harm to patients. A patient’s life may depend on the nurse’s ability to think and respond while he/she is on duty (Code of Ethics for Nurses). The nurse must also take note that the right of patients to know the truth about their condition, prognosis, and treatment is an issue between the physician and the patient. The current trend now is toward more frankness on the part of physicians (Ngo-Metzger et.al. 2008). In the past, the moral obligation to disclose the truth—because the patient has the right to know and adjust to it—was often overcome by the professional need to protect the patient from the potential physical or emotional harm that could be caused by knowledge of a critical or terminal condition. In some cases, the professional could not deal with the truth, and therefore avoided discussion of the situation with the patient. Access to Healthcare Access to decent healthcare is a right of everyone. Healthcare or the administration with appropriate treatment and attention during times of illness or health problem is a basic need that goes with our innate tendency to preserve human life. Among the medical field practitioners, the nurses are the ones most exposed to delivering immediate and constant care to patients. Even if nurses mainly stay behind the shadows of the doctors, as the latter have more comprehensive training and wield greater decisional power, nurses are nevertheless the most visible members in the delivery of care to patients as well as to patients’ close relations. Such a crucial task entails a solid, clear-cut, and binding set of standards and regulations. And since nursing is directly involved with the life and death of individuals, the practice is intertwined with ethical issues and moral debates. Hence, each nation has formulated its own laws on healthcare, and many of these laws are reflective of the Code of Ethics for Nurses, which is universally recognized.