Ethics Flashcards
Name the four key ethical principles related to medicine
Autonomy
Non-maleficience
Beneficiene
Justice
Describe the ethical principle ‘autonomy’
self:rule - the capacity to make reasoned decsisions and act on them
Describe the ethical principle ‘non-malificence’
First do no harm
Descibe the ethical principle ‘beneficience’
Make the care of your patient your first concern
Describe the ethical principle ‘justice’
Fairness - respect for rights
Name the 3 principle ethical theories
Virtue ethics
Duty (deotology) ethics
Consequentialism (ethics)
a) Describe virute ethics
b) who created it?
a) An action is right if, and only if, it is what a virtuous agent would do in the circumstance
Balance between two extremes
b) Aristotle
a) Describe duty (deontological) ethics
b) Who created it?
a) An action is right if, and only if, it is in accord with a moral rule or principle
Morality is a matter of adhering to fixed standards, of performing duties
b) Immanuel Kant
a) Describe consequentialism (utiltarianism)
b) Who created it?
a) An action is right if, and only if, it promotes the best consequnce
Ends justify means
Outcomes are what matter
Promote ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’
b) John Stuart Mill
Discuss the origin of values
- Bernard Williams (1929-2003)
- Thick concepts: descriptive + normative e.g., rude, kind, sympathetic, violent
- Thin concepts: moral judgement over facts e.g., good, bad, right, wrong
Discuss the role of doctor’s decisions over patient’s
Greater knowledge of medical facts
- But not invariably: sometimes a doctor can be wrong
- Sometimes the patient will know more than the doctor
Greater accuracy of hypotheses
- Familiar with the date and how to apply it
- Greater aptitude for interpretation
Doctors can participate in their patients’ value judgements and will invariably have their own values - developed throughout time
Ensure you base your decision on your medical judgement (facts) + the patient’s values primarily
a) When is an argument valid?
b) Does a valid argument need to have a true conclusion?
c) What is the technical term for validity
a) An argument is valid when if the premises are true then the conclusion MUST be true
b) No
c) Truth perservation
Int terms of facts and values, what should your care/decisions involve?
Involve both facts and values - the patient’s as well as your own
What do clinicians tend to significantly underestimate about patient’s?
- Patient’s willingness to undergo toxic treatments to improve length/QoL
- Desire of patients to have full information even if they dont act on it or believe it
Why are animals used?
- Creation and breeding of genetically modified animals (mainly mice)
- Basic research (how it works)
- Regulatory testing
- Research that translates animal-human
- Protection of natural environment
- Preservation of animal species