Ethics Flashcards
Ethics
Unenforced norms and values that guide behavior. (Morals)
No specific laws.
Laws
Values written into enforceable standards of behavior. (Legal)
Autonomy
Patients have the right to choose what will be done to them.
- Weak Paternalism (up to healthcare provider then)
- The Harm Principle (People are free to act however they wish, unless their actions cause harm to them or other people)
Beneficence
Actions that are done for the benefit of patients. (What good of patients?)
Non-maleficence
Do no harm to the patients.
*Don’t kill.
*Don’t cause pain or suffering.
Justice
Equitably treat and deal with all patients (fairness).
Ethical Principles of Professionalism
- Responsibility
- Accountability
- Duties
- Altruism
- Integrity
- Honor
- Veracity (truth telling—honest)
- Fidelity (conventional “oral,” and contractual “written.”)
Informed consent
Formal: for legal and ethical purposes. (E.g. clinical trials)
Informal: Patients counseling—patient decides whether or not to take a medicine.
Confidentiality
All patients’ information is restricted to those authorized to have access to it (Mostly close relatives and his medical care team)
Full disclosure
Only through full disclosure (risk and benefits) is a patient able to make informed decisions regarding future medical care.
Macro Ethical Issues
Issues that are not specific to pharmacists.
Micro Ethical Issues
Issues that may confront individual pharmacists in the course of their daily practices.
Institutional Review Board (IRB)
When the medical care practitioners face any difficulty to take an ethical decision, they must consult the IRB, which has the responsibility to safeguard the rights of human research subjects.
Palliative Care vs Hospice Care
Patients have a terminal illness and/or approaching the end of their lives.
Palliative Care: They may recover. Patients still receive treatment. May follow aggressive measures to preserve or prolong their life.
Hospice Care: Life Expectancy is <6 months. Patients no longer receive treatment. Not following aggressive measures; prefer dying at home.
Documents created by the World Medical Association is the statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.
Declaration of Helsinki.
It includes:
1. Respect for individuals.
2. Right to make informed decisions.
3. Recognition of vulnerable groups.
A comprehensive model that is used to understand why and how illness occurs. It incorporates three components: biology, psychology and social environment, to create a picture of the overall heath of an individual.
Biopsychological Model of Health
