ethical dilemma

Hello all! I am currently having an ethical dilemma and am in need of some opinions/advice from current nurses, CRNA students, and practicing CRNAs. I found this board and thought it would be a perfect place to get some feedback. It is important to note, I am NOT a nurse, CRNA, or CRNA student.

This is my problem- I recently was asked by a CRNA student to assist with researching and writing a paper for one of his/her core courses in his/her CRNA/MSN program. However, I ended up doing 100 percent of this person’s research and wrote about 75 percent of the paper. I should also note that this was a major research paper and took a great amount of time to both research and write and totaled about 25 pages when complete. The student ended up with the highest grade in his/her class and I believe the paper constituted the majority of his/her grade. The student asked for my help because he/she chose to take a vacation immediately prior to the end of the semester and could not complete all of the work he/she needed to by the end of the semester. I agreed to help out because I thought I was helping out a friend.

I have come to regret helping out for various reasons, but mostly I have realized that this may have been unethical on my part and unfair to other students. I have also began to sincerely question the honesty and integrity of the individual who I helped out since after getting to know him/her a little better I have come to learn that he/she is not the most ethical person in the world in most areas of his/her life. In fact, he/she never stops to think if what he/she is doing is wrong or what effect his/her actions might have on others.

In a way, I was thinking of coming forward to satisfy my own guilt, but also to teach this person a lesson. However, I don’t want to ruin his/her life and have no idea if something like this could potentially get him/her kicked out of school. So since I have absolutely no experience in your field, have no idea on the amount of emphasis on ethical behavior in your field, or the type of colleagues you all deal with on a daily basis I just wanted to get some feedback on what you would want to happen in this situation.

-Would you care if your classmate cheated?
-Is ethical makeup and personal integrity even a consideration in your field?
-If this was one of your classmates would you want them exposed?
-If I come forward, will this get him/her kicked out of the program- how seriously is this type of violation taken in a CRNA program?

Thanks