"And always let your conscience be your guide" were the words of Pinnochio's consultant, Jiminy Cricket. Conscience may be defined as a subjective norm of morality, which involves the process of applying and committing to individual knowledge of moral principals and values to specific cases. Even though, according to the Catholic Church, a well-formed conscience should reveal the will of God and be in alignment with church teaching, this is not always the case. Because, with conscience, moral absolutes do not exist, decisions can be made based on purely subjective criteria, which can lead to moral relativism. This issue is currently of great concern to bioethicist; should conscience be the primary guide to ethically-based medical decisions?
When considering ethical values pertaining to medicine, the role of conscience is extremely significant. Contrary to popular belief, an ethically-grounded conscience is much more than Freud's "still small voice" that an individual may hear, but a well-formed conscience is, rather, a pronouncement of inductive reason. In order to have a well-formed conscience, an individual is obligated to inform themselves about ethical norms, incorporate that knowledge into their daily lives, act according to that knowledge, and take responsibility for those actions. Therefore, a mature conscience is formed in dialogue with the sources of moral wisdom, which are tradition, scripture, church teaching, reason and experience (Clark, notes, 2/21).
Historically speaking, conscience in Greek times was only referred to as consequent conscience, which only judged an action previously performed, whereas Paul is believed to first introduce antecedent conscience, which is considered to be a guide for present and...
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...ied if the patient is not influenced by a third party, has a free and informed conscience, and there is only a reasonable hope of benefit if burdens are placed on the patient or there is excessive expense to the family or community. Therefore, if the patient went through all 3 senses of conscience, then he would violate his integrity in deciding to undergo treatment.
When considering conscience, it is therefore extremely important to know that the patient or even the health-provider has used a well-informed conscience as his or her guide, so that chaos and disregard for standards of care can, by large, be avoided.
WORK CITED
Clark, Peter, S.J., Ph.D. Notes
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Kavanaugh, John F. "Conscience Matters". Ethics Notebook. 1997.
In certain situations it is difficult for a person to decide between a moral and immoral choice. In the field of health there are physicians and patients that may have two different mindsets. One may be a patient that believes a decision is moral, while a physician may think the decision is immoral. How can the physician stick to his beliefs and morals when he must make a choice to go against them or not?
Rachels, James, and Stuart Rachels. "7,8,9,10." In The elements of moral philosophy. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2010. 97-145.
Denise Dudzinski, PhD, MTS, Helene Starks, PhD, MPH, Nicole White, MD, MA (2009) ETHICS IN MEDICINE. Retrieved from: http://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/pad.html
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In this diverse society we are confronted everyday with so many ethical choices in provision of healthcare for individuals. It becomes very difficult to find a guideline that would include a border perspective which might include individual’s beliefs and preference across the world. Due to these controversies, the four principles in biomedical ethic which includes autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and acceptable. These principles are not only used to protect the rights of a patient but also the physician from being violated.
Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex J. London, and John D. Arras. "The Principles Approach." Ethical Issues in Modern Medicine. Contemporary Readings in Bioethics. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. 36-37. Print.
Sometimes doctors abuse that aspect of their profession and use it to better science. James P. Scanlan uses the argument of finding the valuable truth and scientific knowledge which is morally impossible to obtain (Pg. 55). Ramsey responds by saying, “These are salutary warnings precisely because by them we are driven to make the most searching inquiry concerning more basic ethical principles governing medical practice.” While becoming a doctor, one may feel as if they must constantly better the field of health using science. “Doctors”, Ramsey says, “Need to become moral philosophers” (Pg.55). If the doctors do not think morally, then medical ethics will slowly become scoured till there is nothing left. Granted, there are doctors and medical students who have looked at this situation from a moral perspective, but I believe, as does Ramsey, that doctors will get caught up in the “omnivorous appetite of scientific research.
The paper looks at the physician’s code of ethics that has a direct impact on efficient and ethical health care delivery. The conduct as used by ACHE is applied here.
Jecker, N. (1990). Integrating medical ethics with normative theory: Patient advocacy and social responsibility. 11(2), 125-139.
McGee, Glenn and Arthur L. Caplan. "Medical Ethics." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
The paper tries to look at the physician’s code of ethics that have a direct impact on efficient and ethical health care delivery. The conduct as used by ACHE is applied here.
Medical ethics refers to the relationship between health professionals and patients. The trust of patients in physicians has been vanishing. Today a lot of health care providers primary concerns seem to be in profit rather than in providing the proper healthcare to the public. Medical ethics consist of several different principles. Nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy are just a few of the many principals. Nonmaleficence enacts that a health care providers, can never use treatment to injure or wrong their patients. Beneficence claims that health care providers are obligated to help others further their interest. Justice requires health providers treat every patient as equal and provide equal treatment for everyone with the same
When considering morality, worthy to note first is that similar to Christian ethics, morality also embodies a specifically Christian distinction. Studying a master theologian such as St. Thomas Aquinas and gathering modern perspectives from James Keenan, S. J. and David Cloutier serve to build a foundation of the high goal of Christian morality. Morality is a primary goal of the faith community, because it is the vehicle for reaching human fulfillment and happiness. Therefore, great value can be placed on foundations of Christian morality such as the breakdown of law from Aquinas, the cultivation of virtues, the role of conscience in achieving morality, and the subject of sin described by Keenan.