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MED 105- MEDICAL ETHICS > 4. ETHICAL THEORIES RELEVANT TO MEDICAL ETHICS > Flashcards

4. ETHICAL THEORIES RELEVANT TO MEDICAL ETHICS Flashcards

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USMLE® Step 1 flashcards
1
Q
  1. What 5 aspects of human nature help individuals decide what is Ethical?
A
  1. Obedience
  2. Imitation
  3. Feeling or desire
  4. Intuition
  5. Habit
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2
Q
  1. What is the basis of Consequentialism?
A
  • an action is right if it promotes the best consequences
  • it is acting on the morally right action
  • an action which is result oriented
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3
Q
  1. What does a Consequentialist believe in?
A
  • the best way to proceed in ethical dilemmas resides in
    the best outcome
  • the choice that is morally right is the choice that
    increases the good at the end of the situation
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4
Q
  1. With Consequentialism, where is the attention focused?
A
  • the attention is focused on the end product
  • it is not focused on what means are taken to achieve it
  • this means that to one may take unethical actions to
    achieve this goal
    (this is based on their own moral code)
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5
Q
  1. Answer this question.
A

ACCORDING TO CONSEQUENTIALISM:
- the end result is positive
- this means that this is an ethical process
- even if the intermediate steps and decisions pose an
ethical debate

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6
Q
  1. Answer this question.
A

ACCORDING TO CONSEQUENTIALISM:
- the end result is positive
- this means that this is an ethical process
- even if the intermediate steps and decisions pose an
ethical debate

NB:
- Consequentialism helps to provide a very straight
forward view of ethics

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7
Q
  1. What are the ethical issues regarding the steps taken during this process?
A
  • the embryos that are used for research purposes can
    be destroyed

FOR SOME:
- life starts at conception
- the destruction of an embryo would then be a loss of a
life

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8
Q
  1. Name 4 limits of Consequentialism.
A
  1. Future consequences are difficult to predict
    • we cannot predict every outcome of an event
  2. Measuring and comparing the “goodness” of
    consequences is very difficult
    • what should be assess when calculating good
      consequences
  3. Choosing different time periods may produce
    different consequences
    • EG: an intervention may offer good short-term
      results
      : however, the long term results may lead to the
      development of other health conditions
  4. It ignores aspects that we regard as ethically relevant
    • such as the intentions of the person doing the act
    • the character of a person doing the act
    • the fairness of the result
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9
Q
  1. What is Utilitarianism a branch of?
A
  • Consequentialism
  • it is a more popular approach
  • it is a more widely used approach
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10
Q
  1. What is Utilitarianism?
A
  • it is an ethical theory
  • it determines right from wrong by focusing on
    outcomes
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11
Q
  1. What is the fundamental difference between Utilitarianism and Consequentialism?
A
  • Utilitarianism states that the most ethical choice is the
    one that will produce the best outcome for the most
    people
  • Consequentialism simply focuses on the best outcome,
    regardless of the quantity of people
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12
Q
  1. What did Utilitarian Concepts derive from?
A
  • they derived from the work of Jeremy Bentham and
    John Stuart Mill
  • Jeremy Bentham was a British lawyer and Utilitarian
  • John Stuart Mill was an English Philosopher
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13
Q
  1. What are 3 comments about ethics made by John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham?
A
  1. It is the greatest good for the greatest number of
    people that indicates what is right and wrong
  2. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of
    two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure
  3. Actions are right in proportion, as they tend to
    promote happiness. Actions are wrong if they tend to
    produce the reverse of happiness
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14
Q
  1. How would we define pleasure?
A
  • pleasure is confined to the satisfaction of appetites
  • short term pleasure can have long term consequences
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15
Q
  1. What aspects of human life should be maximised, according to Utilitarianism?
A
  • human welfare
  • human well-being
  • health
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16
Q
  1. What are three aspects of Utilitarianism that are considered sensible?
A
  1. Basing ethics on producing happiness and reducing
    unhappiness
  2. Basing ethics on the consequences of what we do.
    - this is because we usually make decisions about what
    we do considering the results that will be produced
  3. Basing ethics on common sense
17
Q
  1. What kind of method of decision making does Utilitarianism offer?
A
  • a very straight forward one
  • this helps to ease the process of taking the morally
    right course of action
18
Q
  1. What are the 3 steps to making an ethical decision based on Utilitarianism?
A
  1. Identify the various courses of action we could
    perform
  2. Determine all of the foreseeable benefits and harms
    that would result from each course of action for
    everyone affected by this action
  3. Choose the course of action that provides the
    greatest benefits (for the majority)
    • take all the costs into account
19
Q
  1. What is done with the Principle of Act Utilitarianism?
A
  • this principle is directly used to guide actions
  • it helps to assess and promote the consequences of
    specific actions
20
Q
  1. What is done with the Principle of Rule Utilitarianism?
A
  • the principle is used to formulate general rules
  • these rules are used to guide actions
  • these rules are considered the best rules to follow
    overall
21
Q
  1. Answer this question.
A
  • A
  • this is ethical based on an Utilitarian response
  • this is because it benefits the most people
  • the end result is considered morally right
  • the actions taken to reach this result are overlooked
22
Q
  1. What kind of decisions does Community Health require?
A
  • decisions that are considered community or
    population level
  • the ethically correct action will be the one that results
    in the maximum overall benefit for the community
23
Q
  1. What is required when making decisions about Health Care based on a Utilitarianism approach?
A
  • consideration of the benefit to be gained from the
    various competing options
  • this benefit is observed in terms of the improvements
    in health for an individual
  • it also looks at the number of individuals who could
    benefit
24
Q
  1. What are the 3 major criticisms of Utilitarianism?
A
  1. WE CANNOT PREDICT THE FUTURE
    • it is difficult to know with certainty whether the
      consequences of our actions will be good or bad
  2. WE ARE MEANT TO ASSIGN VALUES TO THE BENEFITS
    AND HARMS RESULTING FROM OUR ACTIONS
    • we then compare these to make a moral decision
    • it is often very difficult to measure and compare the
      values of certain benefits and costs
  3. IT FACES SEVERE LIMITATIONS
    • these are with regards to accounting for values
    • EG: values such as justice and individual rights
25
Q
  1. What are the criticisms of the decision made in this case?
A
  1. Power and wealth are encouraged as a way to
    prioritise people
    - this breeds injustice
  2. There is a failure to account for the Human Right to
    life
    - we are failing to take into account the well being of Mr
    X’s family
    - this leads to unequal treatment
  3. We are comparing someone’s quality of life to
    someone’s chance at life
26
Q
  1. In today’s day, what are two factors that Utilitarians use to describe the benefits and harms of their decision?
A
  1. THEY USE PURELY ECONOMIC TERMS
    • they look at the monetary benefits over the
      monetary costs
  2. RESOURCE ALLOCATION
    • money
    • time
    • equipment
    • organs
27
Q
  1. What are 4 factors that affect the decisions made about resource allocation in the Health Care system?
A
  1. Difficult choices may need to be made due to a
    limited budget
  2. Determining morally relevant reasons for treating
    people differently
  3. Measure of QALY’s
    (Quality Adjusted Life Year)
  4. Measure of DALY’s
    (Disability Adjusted Life Year)
28
Q
  1. What is a Quality Adjusted Life Year?
A
  • this is a generic measure of the burden of the disease
  • it includes both the quality and the quantity of the life
    lived
29
Q
  1. What is a Disability Adjusted Life Year?
A
  • it is a measure of a disease burden
  • it is expressed as the cumulative number of years that
    are lost due to ill health and disability

MED 105- MEDICAL ETHICS (36 decks)

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