Beauchamp's Principle Of Biomedical Ethics

To what extent are facial transplantations justifiable in accordance to Beauchamp’s and Childress’s principle of biomedical ethics?

Medical ethics is the branch of ethics that deals with the morality of issues that occur in medical practice. The WMA’s definition of ethics is that it is “the study of morality-careful and systematic reflection on analysis of moral decisions and behaviour.” (WMA). It is this reflection and analysis that allows medical ethics to progress throughout the years as ideas and thinking evolves, and for previous treatments to be reevaluated. Due to the philosophical nature of medical ethics, the definitions and frameworks vary throughout the world. Theories are influenced by not only the branch of philosophical thinking

This framework is widely used throughout hospitals and medical schools across the world. It is unique in its regard due to offering a broader sense of medical ethics, covering ethics outside the scope of clinical settings. (UKCEN) This is a major reason why it’s extremely useful when discussing future treatments and potential cures as its focus on biomedical ethics is exemplary. It is important to appreciate the difference between the terms “medical ethics” and “biomedical ethics”. The major difference as illustrated in the WMA manual is that biomedical ethics is broader in its application, governing the “moral issues raised by developments in the biological sciences”. This is more relevant to facial transplantation as it is currently seen by the medical world and administrative institutions as a research

This is further explained by defining “voluntariness” as the precedes of adequate knowledge, absence of psychological compulsion and the absence of external constraints. However, in the field of facial transplantation, a few major problems arise in regards to this issue. Facial transplantation is a relatively new research procedure, and subsequently, not enough information has been discovered surrounding it. The first face transplant occurred in the controversial 2005 case in France of Isabelle Dinoire. Throughout the past decade, only a few handful face transplants have been achieved, and thus information on the procedure is limited. It is, therefore, important to appreciate the fact that facial transplantation carries huge amounts of risk and potential of unknown complications.

Another issue facing facial transplantation is the presence of psychological compulsion. This issue revolves more around the disfigured and their public reaction by society. The major issues in this regard is the social intolerance of disfigured thus resulting in all most psychological compulsion to fit into society’s definition of normality. This is evidenced by patient’s choice of quality of life rather than life itself, albeit aware that significant life reduction the treatment can cause due to lifelong