Introduction Flashcards
current issues contributing to the importance of ethical considerations
- increase in technology
- better informed patients
- public scrutiny
- litigation
Potential conflicts
- disagreement over the definition of “benefit” and “harm” between health care providers and patients and families
- and between providers and patients and third party payers
medical ethics
- system of moral principles that applies values and judgments to the practice of medicine and addresses:
- the broad ethical principles that impact on patients, clinicians, and healthcare institutions
- the code of ethics of healthcare providers, first delineated in the Hippocratic oath
Oath of Hippocrates - medical ethics
- “primum non nocere” - first do no harm
- always look to the good of the patient
- place a high value on human life
- perform only within one’s training and skill
- refrain from improper relations with patient
- maintain patient’s secrets inviolate
- do not violate community laws or morals
“ethics” vs “morality”
- both focus on right and wrong
- differ regarding whether there is: consensus vs. conflict of values, uniform code of behavior, and authoritative sources
ethics definition
refer to rules or standards provided by an external source, e.g., professional or workplace codes of conduct or religious principles; in other words the principles of “right conduct” (outside external source)
morals definition
refer to an individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong, upon which one’s judgements of right and wrong are based (personal, internal source)
ethics
- systematic rules or principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior, striving for right conduct
- generally without a single accepted code of behavior, or authoritative source
- accepting uncertainty
- aims to transcend the diversity of moral traditions in its response to conflicting beliefs about right and wrong conduct
Professional ethics
- the ethical norms, values, and principles that guide a profession and the ethics of decisions made within the profession
- every practitioner, upon entering the health care profession, is invested with the responsibility to adhere to the standards of ethical practice and conduct set by the profession
Bioethics
- the ethics of medical and biological research;
- the study of ethical problems arising from biological research and its applications in such fields as organ transplantation, genetic engineering, or artificial insemination
“normative” ethics
- an approach that examines or assigns rightness or wrongness to actions
- there are several normative ethical theories that we will examine
virtue ethics
focuses on the inherent character of a person rather than on specific actions
deontological ethics
- focuses on the status of the action, rule, or disposition itself (has various forms…)
- argues that decisions should be made considering the factors of one’s duties and others’ rights
- includes: Kantianism, contractualism, and natural rights
consequentialism
- focuses on the status of the action, rule, or disposition itself (has various forms…)
- argues that the morality of an action is contingent on the action’s outcome or result
- theories include: utilitarianism, ethics of car, pragmatic ethics
Kantianism
- type of deontology
- roots morality in humanity’s rational capacity and asserts certain inviolable moral laws
Contractualism
- type of deontology
- holds that the moral acts are those that we would all agree to if we were unbiased
Natural rights
- type of deontology
- holds that human beings have absolute, natural rights
utilitarianism
- type of consequentialism
- holds that an action is right if it leads to the most happiness for the greatest number of people
ethics of care
- type of consequentialism
- aka relational ethics
- founded by feminist theorists
- morality arises out of the experiences of empathy and compassion
- emphasizes the importance of interdependence and relationships in achieving ethical goals
pragmatic ethics
- type of consequentialism
- moral correctness evolves similarly to scientific knowledge: socially over the course of many lifetimes
- we should prioritize social reform over concern with consequences, individual virtue or duty
nonnormative ethics
- simply observes and describes, establishing what factually or conceptually is the case, not what ethically ought to be the case
- two types are descriptive ethics and metaethics
descriptive ethics
- type of nonnormative ethics
- simply reports what people believe, how they reason, and how they act
metaethics
- type of nonnormative ethics
- analysis of the language, concepts, and methods of reasoning in ethics
practical ethics
utilizes the implications of general theories for specific forms of conduct and moral judgment; formerly called applied ethics
4 basic principles of medical ethics
autonomy
nonmaleficence
beneficence
justice
autonomy
one should respect the right of individuals to make their own decisions
nonmaleficence
one should avoid causing harm
beneficence
one should take positive steps to help others
justice
benefits and risks should be fairly distributed
