Terms Flashcards
Respect for autonomy
- Based on human dignity and respect for individuals
- to respect a person’s choice/decision
- everyone should be able to have a say in their lives
- individuals are able to choose actions and goals that fulfill their life plans with the exception of harming others
- a principle of bioethics
Non maleficence
- to do no harm or bring about things that may inflict harm/ put people at risk
- abstaining from causing harm to other
- “do not kill”
- 1st written idea of this is in the Hippocratic oath
- ” i will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgement, but I will never use it to injure or wrong them”
- a principle of bioethics
Beneficence
- a principle of bioethics
- moves beyond negative prohibitions (do no harm) to positive steps to help others
- example: mercy, kindness, neighborliness, charity, generosity
- anything that brings positive benefits to others
- involves actively helping others
- preventing/removing evil, promoting good
Justice
- a principle of bioethics
- people get what they deserve
- resources go where needed/deserved
- fair, equitable, and appropriate treatment in light of what is due or owed to affected individuals and groups
Types:
retributive, distributive, social
Moral Status
- a position, grade or rank of moral importance
- to have rights or the functional equivalent of rights
5 theories of moral status:
1. Human properties
2. cognitive properties
3. moral agency
4. sentience
5. relationships
human properties
- distinctively human properties = moral status
- covers all beings with human genetic code
- good because includes all human regardless of ability.disability and age/development
- bade because excludes everything that is not human
example: animals
Cognitive properties
- Moral status based on the ability to think and reflect
- cognition = processes of awareness such as perception, memory, understanding, thinking
- problematic because excludes infants, elderly, and the mentally disabled
Moral Agency
- moral status derived from the ability to act as a moral agent
- individual is capable of knowing right from wrong
- motives can be judged morally
- problematic because fails to provide a necessary condition
- excludes psychopaths, dementia, young children, and some animals
sentience
- the capacity for sensations, feelings, or other experiences that are agreeable or disagreeable
- broad scope; all humans, animals
- can an embryo feel?
- about whether a subject can feel pain and suffer
- problem with “level” of sentience and significance
Relationships
- relationships between parties confers moral status
Example: physicians-patient gives moral status to each as physician takes caretaker role and patient seeks care - problematic because outside of relationships no moral status
social determinants of health
- how social location affects health
- race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, geography, occupation, etc
- the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age affect their health and access to health care
Example: Henrietta Lacks’ lesser treatment because she was black and poor and her doctor not believing her
Health disparities
- inequality and differences in health care because of race, wealth, etc
- preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations
In vitro fertilization
- fertility treatment where fertilization occurs out of the womb and the embryo is then placed back inside the host
Pro: respect for autonomy, egalitarianism, capability theory, emphasis on personal choice
Con: destruction of unused embryos, not natural conception, pipeline to eugenics
Dignitas Personae
2008
- dignity of a person, from conception to a natural death
- perspective from catholic church regarding the moral implications of respecting the dignity of all human beings
- talks about IVF, gene therapy and cloning, and stem cell research
Human Genome Editing
- The process by which the genome sequence is changed by adding, replacing, or removing DNA base pairs
- could be used fro treatment or prevention of disease through restoring normal function or preventing genetic disease
- raises concerns of playing “god” and creating designer babies
Somatic cell gene therapy
- genome editing in somatic, non reproductive cells
- use for treatment of disease/disability
Germline cell therapy
- in reproductive cells, producing heritable changes
- use for prevention/treatment of genetically inherited diseases
Germline enhancement
- using genome editing to make a “better” germline
- biological modifications
- rejected by committee for human gene editing and Dignitas Personae
Eugenics
- social reproductive practice
- reproduction for desirable traits and exclusion of others
- discrimination based on disability, race, gender, etc.
stem cell research
- stem cells are undifferentiated cells that when transplanted they tend to promote cell growth and tissue regeneration
- can be taken from adults and embryos
adult stem cell research
- stem cells taken from adults
- somatic stem cells
- does not harm the adult
- not as pluripotent as embryonic stem cells
embryonic stem cell therapy
- stem cells taken from an embryo
-destroys the embryo - more pluripotent than adult somatic stem cells
- argument over whether the benefits outweigh the negative of destroying an embryo
Ordinary means
- reasonable, worthwhile, proportionate
- treatment that is not of great cost or burden
Extraordinary means
- disproportionate, burdensome
- treatment that is of great cost/measure that is going beyond what is necessary
Physician-assisted euthanasia
- when someone other than the patient administers medication in any form with the intention of hastening the patients death
- illegal in the US
Medical aid in dying
- when terminal patients contain a life-ending prescription from doctor and self-administer the medication
- legal in 9 states and DC
Palliative care
- care aimed at prioritizing quality of life and minimizing pain/suffering
- for those with serious or terminal illnesses
- priority opposed to hastening death
Global Health
- asking justice questions about health on a global scale
- think about the right to a decent minimum of health care –> should be a global right, not just national
- Paul farmer = pioneer in global health
Partners in Health
- Founded by Paul Farmer
- a leading global health model emphasizing community-based health solutions rather than humanitarian aid
Structural Violence
- a form of violence where a social structure or institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs
- a key concept in social justice; connected to broader social political, and economic forces that may not manifest themselves in single instances but still have violent effects
- may involve gender, racial, sexual, or other injustices
Liberation theology
- preoccupies itself with the suffering of the poor –> preferential option for the poor
- social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples
Preferential option for the poor
- prioritize the issues at the heart of the poor
- priority given to the well-being of the poor and powerless of society
- poor = those who suffer injustice
Conscientization
- helping people become conscious of the injustices in the structures of society
- coming to understand how social structures cause injustices
Community-based health
- health care in a community where people help others in community
- ordinary people filling in the gaps so that divides can be bridged
Accompanateurs
- community base health workers
- don’t require much health training
- help plug gaps
–> such as providing transportation