Everyone has to play by rules and for some these rules are known as ethics, and this fact holds true for scientist and medical doctors. Although each science field has their own unique wording to what their ethics are, they do follow a similar pattern as to what is acceptable. Looking specifically at bioethics one can see that the ideas of respecting the patient, not purposely inflicting harm, to have the best interest of the patient in mind, and finally fairness to all patients. Many of these ideas were first established in the famous Hippocrates oath, but the above principles were outlined by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in 1979. Therefore, what exactly is meant by these guidelines, and what is the penalty for disregarding them. The …show more content…
Now the way I see it does this force you to violate the first two principles. For example, let’s say you have a parent who opposes vaccines for their child, do you as a doctor with the best benefit for the child give the child a shot, thus violating the respect for the body. In my personal opinion, the doctor has the obligation to protect the child because the child would be at risk of dying without the vaccine. The last principle outlined by Beauchamp and Childress was that of justice, in which a doctor should treat everyone equal. However, this may not always be the case, because medicine is a business thus only those how can afford it can participate. This becomes apparent in the story of Henrietta Lacks. (McCormick, …show more content…
For example, do the cells still belong to her and her family and was justice served as Lacks’s family suffered from the lack of health insurance while companies make money off her cells. First, I believe that the cells now belong to humanity as a whole because of the positive effect they have in the medical field, which follows the idea of doing the greatest good. However, the bioethics were violated the minute companies and people attempted to make a profit from HeLa cells, as that benefits only the greed of others. Furthermore, her family should not have to struggle with medical bills, as the medical community and in fact, the world will forever, be in debt to the Lacks family. Furthermore, the community still uses the family, as they went to the family to try and decontaminate the HeLa cell
The four major ethical principles in health care are: Autonomy – to honor the patient’s right to make their own decision (the opposite is paternalism - the health care provider knows best for the patient), Beneficence – to help the patient advance his/her own good, Nonmaleficence – to do no harm (many bioethical controversies involves this principle), and Justice – to be fair and treat like cases alike. All 4 principles are considered to be in effect at all times. In theory, each is of equal weight or importance. Ethical responsibilities in a given situation depend in part on the nature of the decision and in part on the roles everyone involved play.
..., beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and adequate. These principles are used to protect the rights of a patient and the physician from being dishonored. The principle autonomy allow an individual to act freely in accordance to their self-chosen plan. This means that healthcare providers must always get the patients consent before making any decision about patient’s life. The of non-maleficence states one must cause no harm to an individual. This means that we must always restrain from harming others. The principle of beneficences say that one must always promote good. This means that healthcare providers must always do what is good for the patient. Lastly the principle of justice promote fairness and equally. This mean that healthcare providers cannot act in a prejudice manner toward patients.
The two sets of principles are just ethical principles and nothing more. Neither of them has any legally binding authority or means of enforcement. The adequate protection of human research subjects is not guaranteed under these codes, we just have to trust that they are being treated properly. The Code should be rewritten so that there is some enforcement of the principles instead of just hoping that doctors will behave ethically.
Marketers operating in the drug industry have to push their products which then raises the ethical questions that surround the profession of medical delivery. Pharmaceutical companies disburse billions of dollars annually to research, develop, and market drugs. Every pharmacy company needs the endorsement of their drugs from physicians and doctors, so they have to ensure that the doctors are well treated. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, the pharmaceutical corporation spent over $27 billion on advertising alone in 2012, with $24 billion of that dedicated to marketing to physicians. (Kessel, 2014) A further survey conducted by Deloitte shows that 35% of the doctors accept some gratuity payment from the pharmacy companies and 16% of the doctors take money to represent the pharmacy company in conferences and health camps. (Kessel, 2014) The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education declares that pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies funded almost one-third of continuing medical education (CME) opportunities for doctors in 2011.( (Barnett, 1989)
Doctors have to go through many years of studying and many more hours of practicing on people. These qualities make any doctor seem god-like to the eyes of everyday people. Doctors are trusted blindly and people are led to believe that doctors are always honest. In the story, The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams, the parents of Matilda question the tactics the doctor is using to properly diagnose the girl but trust that the doctor knows what he is doing and lets him use force anyway. These cases are seen all over the world as well. There have been many reported cases of doctors using force to allow patients to get treated. Some patients however, do not wish to be treated because of things like religion or preference or other reasons but doctors still treat them in order to save them from themselves. The power struggle creates anger and resentment from both parties and blurs the line between personal rights and saving lives. In an article written by Jessica Grose, doctors force a woman to have a C-Section because they believe it was in the baby’s best interest. However, the woman did not want to have the surgery performed. This led to the doctors threatening to sue the woman for possible child endangerment. The woman, in fear of possibly killing her child, sided with the health care providers even though personally she did not want to have the surgery performed. This
According to the dictionary, ethics are moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or conducting of an activity. It is a vital component in the medical field because it deals with moral dilemmas that might arise due to conflicts in duties or obligations as well as their potential outcomes. Bioethics is based on four key principles: autonomy, beneficence, justice and nonmaleficence. Medical professionals must employ a systematic approach when establishing these principles in their decision-making. While ethical principles are precise by definition, the implementation of these principles are more complex.
Ethical principles or simply medical ethics involves a system of moral guidelines that offer value to scientific research and to clinical medical practice. The principles involve some given values that apply to a case of conflicting situation facing the medical practitioners. The four principles include the respect for justice, autonomy, non-maleficence, and beneficence. These tenets guide the doctors, the families of patients and other care professionals to formulate a plan of treatment or practice without conflicting one another. Working in healthcare is both challenging and rewarding.
For instance, as the statement states above, medical doctors will only impart the knowledge of medicine to only future medical doctors. The article Fundamental Ethical Principles in Healthcare, discusses three ethical principles to the Hippocratic Oath, beneficence, justice and respect for persons. According Fundamental Ethical Principles in Healthcare, beneficence means, “the duty to do good and avoid doing harm. Justice means, fairness to all or non-discrimination. And respect for persons mean, respect for life and the dignity of the patients” (Thompson, 1987).
An ethical principle is a central initial belief which guides the actions of individuals. Many ethical principles are relevant and pertinent to any and every medical situation. Ethics dominates everything that is done in medicine today. Medical education requires each healthcare professional to