Nurses: Most honest profession in America

The American public ranks nurses the most honest profession in the nation, says a Gallup poll released late last year. In Gallup's Honesty and Ethics poll, expanded in 1999 to include nurses and 19 additional occupations not previously rated, nearly three quarters of Americans--73 percent--rank nurses' honesty and ethics either very high or high. Next highest on the list--an occupation that was listed in previous years--were pharmacists, who garnered 69 percent on the honesty/ethics vote. Also among the top five were veterinarians (63 percent), medical doctors (58 percent) and K-12 teachers (57 percent). At the bottom of the list, HMO managers are second from the last among the occupations ranked as low or very low on honesty and ethics. At the very bottom were lawyers.