Ethics in Medical Practice Flashcards
What factors are required for ethical informed consent?
Information
Competency
Voluntariness (freedom from coercion, manipulation and deceit)
Understanding
Define beneficence
To do good; more than just a physiological improvement, also striving to further patients’ autonomous goals
Define nonmaleficence
Avoiding and minimising harm
Unavoidable harms should be proportionate and justifiable
What counts as harm in the context of nonmaleficence?
Physical, social, psychological, spiritual, financial
What are the 5 principles of principle based medical ethics?
Autonomy Beneficence Nonmaleficence Justice Respect for dignity
What are the 2 axioms of justice?
“Treat like cases alike”
“Justice is impartial”
What does “treat like cases alike” mean in the context of the ethical principle of justice?
Unless there are relevant differences, then equals deserve equal treatment of equal shares
What does “justice is impartial” mean in the context of the ethical principle of justice?
Decision-making should not be influenced by irrelevant points of difference or self-interest
What is distributive justice?
Justice in the allocation of resources
Give an example of an unavoidable inequality in distributive justice
Donor kidney matches only 1 transplant patient
Give an example of an avoidable but justifiable inequality in distributive justice
3 patients need your time, but spending 5 minutes with each will help none, while spending 15 minutes with a cerebral palsy patient in urgent need of care will save his life
What is the harm principle?
“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant… Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”
