"One main purpose of medical ethics is to analyze the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research."
Study of ethical and moral issues in medicine, such as informed consent, end-of-life care, and medical research ethics.
Hippocratic Oath: The ethical code that ancient Greek physicians swore to uphold that emphasized patient-centered care and confidentiality.
Medical Jurisprudence: The legal framework governing the medical profession, including informed consent, malpractice liability, and end-of-life decision-making.
Ethical Theories: Philosophical frameworks to guide decision-making, including deontological and consequentialist approaches.
Principles of Autonomy, Beneficence, Non-maleficence, and Justice: The four core ethical principles that underpin medical practice.
Medical Futility: The concept that medical interventions that are not expected to improve a patient's health or quality of life are not ethical or beneficial.
Clinical Ethics Consultation: The process of using ethics committees to resolve ethical dilemmas in healthcare.
End-of-Life Care: The ethical and legal considerations surrounding decision-making near the end of life, including advance directives, euthanasia, and assisted suicide.
Allocation of Scarce Resources: The ethical considerations weighing the distribution of limited medical resources, such as organs for transplantation, vaccines, and dialysis.
Genetic Testing and Screening: The ethical issues surrounding the use of genetic testing and screening to assess the risk of disease and genetic counseling.
Privacy and Confidentiality: The ethical and legal obligations to protect patient privacy and maintain confidentiality, including the use and storage of electronic medical records.
Disability and Equality: The ethical considerations surrounding medical care for individuals with disabilities, including accommodations and accessibility.
Research Ethics: The ethical considerations surrounding medical research, including informed consent, confidentiality, and protection of vulnerable populations.
Abortion and Reproductive Rights: The ethical and legal considerations regarding abortions and reproductive rights.
Mental Health: Ethical issues surrounding the assessment and treatment of mental illness, including confidentiality and informed consent.
Cultural Competence: The importance of understanding culture and diversity in medical practice and patient care.
Professional Relationships: The ethical considerations surrounding the relationships between medical professionals, including conflicts of interest, boundaries, and sexual misconduct.
Medical Errors and Disclosure: The ethical and legal obligations regarding disclosing medical errors to patients and their families.
Medical Education: The ethical considerations surrounding medical education, including the training of medical students, informed consent for procedures, and developing a curriculum that emphasizes ethics.
Global Health Ethics: The ethical considerations related to health inequalities, infectious diseases, and global health, including the importance of cultural competence and social justice.
Biotechnology and Medical Innovation: The ethical and legal considerations surrounding the use of new medical technologies, including gene editing, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology.
Autonomy-based ethics: This type of medical ethics stresses the importance of individual rights and choices. It emphasizes the patient's right to make his own medical decisions based on his values and beliefs and respecting the patient's right to informed consent.
Beneficence-based ethics: This type of medical ethics focuses on promoting the patient's best interests and doing good to them. It emphasizes the duty of medical practitioners to act in the best interest of their patients and provide safe, effective, and appropriate care.
Non-maleficence-based ethics: This type of medical ethics emphasizes the duty of healthcare professionals to refrain from causing harm to their patients. It stresses the need to avoid or minimize any potential harm or risks in treatment, including the disclosure of risks and the monitoring of adverse events and outcomes.
Justice-based ethics: This type of medical ethics emphasizes the need for fairness in the distribution of healthcare resources and treatment. It stresses that healthcare should be allocated based on need, regardless of social status or economic means.
Fidelity-based ethics: This type of medical ethics emphasizes the importance of trust, honesty, and loyalty in the doctor-patient relationship. It stresses that healthcare professionals should act in good faith, with integrity, and follow through on their commitments to their patients.
Virtue-based ethics: This type of medical ethics emphasizes the importance of character and virtues that healthcare professionals should possess. Virtuous behaviours include compassion, empathy, respect, and honesty. It stresses that healthcare professionals should strive to cultivate these virtues in themselves.
"These values include the respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice."
"It is important to note that these four values are not ranked in order of importance or relevance."
"Such tenets may allow doctors, care providers, and families to create a treatment plan and work towards the same common goal."
"A conflict may arise leading to the need for hierarchy in an ethical system, such that some moral elements overrule others with the purpose of applying the best moral judgment to a difficult medical situation."
"The Hippocratic Oath, The Declaration of Helsinki, and The Nuremberg Code are well-known and respected documents contributing to medical ethics."
"Roe v. Wade in 1973 marked an important development in medical ethics."
"The development of hemodialysis in the 1960s was an important milestone in the history of medical ethics."
"New techniques for gene editing aiming at treating, preventing and curing diseases raise important moral questions about their applications in medicine and treatments as well as societal impacts on future generations."
"These techniques remain controversial due to their association with eugenics."
"The focus remains on fair, balanced, and moral thinking across all cultural and religious backgrounds around the world."
"The field of medical ethics encompasses both practical application in clinical settings and scholarly work in philosophy, history, and sociology."
"Medical ethics encompasses beneficence, autonomy, and justice as they relate to conflicts such as euthanasia, patient confidentiality, informed consent, and conflicts of interest in healthcare."
"Different cultures implement ethical values differently, sometimes placing more emphasis on family values and downplaying the importance of autonomy."
"This leads to an increasing need for culturally sensitive physicians and ethical committees in hospitals and other healthcare settings."
"Medical ethics is particularly relevant in decisions regarding involuntary treatment and involuntary commitment."
"The Hippocratic Oath discusses basic principles for medical professionals and dates back to the fifth century BCE."
"The field of medical ethics encompasses practical application in clinical settings as well as scholarly work in philosophy."
"New techniques for gene editing raise important moral questions about their applications in medicine and treatments as well as societal impacts on future generations."
"Ethical committees play a role in addressing culturally sensitive issues and ethical conflicts in hospitals and other healthcare settings."