Ethics Flashcards
Define Ethics
Systematic approach to understanding, analyzing and distinguishing maters of right or wrong, good, and bad as they exist on a continuum
What does ethical theory help with?
It helps to provide guidance in moral thinking and reasoning and justification or rationale for moral standing, decision and/or action
Name the 6 ethical theories
Deontological theory
utilitarian theory
Virtue ehtics
Ethics of Care
Principled based ethics
feminists ethics
What is the deontological theory?
States we are morally obligated to act in accordance with a certain set of principles and rules regardless of outcome
- Duty based thicks teaches that some acts are right or wrong because of the sorts of things they are, and ppl have a duty to act accordingly regardless of the good or bad consequences that may be produced
- it is wrong to kill innocent ppl, steal, tell lies
- it is right to keep promises
What is the utilitarian theory?
that the morally right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected. So long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for
everyone, utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are
produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion.
Ex: the mandates in NZ for the unvaccinated
What is virtue ethics?
A broad term for theories that emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing one’s duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences.
If you believe that you are doing it for the right reason then it must be right…not always. the death sentence
What is the ethics of care theory (MARYS PASSION)
Implies that there is a moral significance in the fundamental elements of relationships and dependencies in human life. Seeks to maintain relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of caregivers and care-receivers in a network or social relations. Most often denied as a practice or virtue rather than a theory as such, “care” involves maintaining the world of, and meeting the needs of, ourselves and others.
- works well for nurses. Nurses don’t care if someone is unvaccinated, ethics is to care for everyone
Principled-based ethics ( MARYS PASSION)
An approach to ethics that focuses on theories of the importance of general principles such as respect for autonomy.
beneficence/non-maleficence, and justice
- is normally thought along with nursing care
What is Feminist ethics
emphasize the importance of the experiences of women and other
marginalized groups to ethical deliberation. most important
contributions of this approach is its foregrounding of the principle of care as a legitimately primary ethical concern, often in opposition to the seemingly cold and impersonal justice approach. like virtue ethics, feminist ethics concerned with the totality of human life and how this life comes to influence the way we make ethical decisions.
what is the 4 quadrant approach
the 4 quadrant approach is to develop an ethical decision:
-Indication for medical interventions: establish diag., options for treatment, and prognoses for each option. focus on what’s available in NZ
-Preferences of the patient: Is the patient competent? what would they like to do? If not competent then what is in the patent’s best interest and who will make the decision in the patients best interest?
-Quality of life: will the proposed treatment improve the patent’s quality of life?
-Contextual Features: do religious, cultural, legal factors have an impact on the decision?
what are the four principles of biomedical ethics?
most widely used frameworks and offers a broad consideration of medical ethics issues generally, not just for use in a clinical setting.
-Respects for autonomy: respecting the decision-making capacities of autonomous persons; enabling individuals to make reasoned informed choices.
- assessing health lit. is important
-Beneficence: this considers the balancing of benefits of treatment against the risks and costs; the healthcare professional should act in a way that benefits the patent
-Nonmaleficence: avoiding the causation of harm; the healthcare professional should not harm the patent. All treatment involves some harm, even if minimal, but the harm should not be disproportionate to the benefits of treatment.
-Justice: distributing benefits, risks, and costs fairly; the notion that patents in similar positions should be treated in a similar manner
What was the Cartwright Inquiry?
an experiment done on women with CV cancer but did not get consent from patients, decided to treat some and not treat others, believing if you left CV cancer then it would health/ resolve itself.
