"One main purpose of medical ethics is to analyze the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research."
Medical ethics is the study of moral principles and values that apply to medical practice. Medical journalists must understand medical ethics to report accurately on issues related to medical decision-making, patient rights, and medical research.
Ethical principles: The principles of medical ethics provide a framework for analyzing ethical situations in the field of medicine. It includes autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.
Informed consent: Informed consent is the process of obtaining permission from a patient or their representative before providing medical treatment or conducting research.
Confidentiality: Confidentiality is an ethical duty of healthcare professionals to maintain the privacy of patient information.
End-of-life care: End-of-life care involves decisions made regarding patients who are dying or who have terminal conditions.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are controversial topics in medical ethics where the actions and decisions of physicians may end the lives of patients.
Allocation of resources: The allocation of resources in medicine, such as organ donation, is a complex ethical issue that arises when there is a shortage of resources.
Global health ethics: Global health ethics emphasizes the ethical practices in the context of health care access and distribution globally.
Medical research ethics: Medical research ethics is concerned with ethical issues surrounding the conduct of medical research.
Professional integrity and conflicts of interest: Professional integrity and conflicts of interest refer to the ethical standards and principles guiding the relationship between healthcare professionals and their patients.
Ethical responses to natural disasters: Ethical responses to natural disasters refer to the ethical considerations that arise in the provision of health services in emergency situations.
Reproductive ethics: Reproductive ethics is a sub-field of medical ethics that deals with ethical considerations surrounding issues such as fertility, family planning, genetics, and embryonic research.
Health inequality: Health inequality refers to inequalities among individuals or communities in the access to healthcare resources, resulting in disparities in health outcomes.
Mental health ethics: Mental health ethics is concerned with the ethical aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of patients with mental illness.
Healthcare disparities: Healthcare disparities arise when certain populations face race, ethnicity, or gender-related disparities in their access to healthcare services.
Public health ethics: Public health ethics refers to ethical considerations regarding the promotion of health, the prevention of illness, and the protection of public health in society.
Medical codes and guidelines: Medical codes and guidelines are sets of ethical principles and standards that govern the conduct of healthcare professionals in their practice.
Medical error and malpractice: Medical error and malpractice is a complex ethical issue where healthcare professionals are held accountable for their actions when something goes wrong.
Alternative and complementary medicine: Alternative and complementary medicine refers to treatments that lie outside the mainstream of conventional medicine and often raise ethical concerns about their effectiveness and safety.
Healthcare reform: Healthcare reform refers to changes in the healthcare system aimed at improving access, quality, affordability, and efficiency, leading to ethical concerns surrounding the balance of costs and benefits.
Medical education: Medical education refers to the ethical principles governing the education of students and professionals in the fields of medicine and healthcare.
Bioethics: Focuses on ethical issues surrounding the practice of medicine and healthcare research.
Clinical Ethics: Deals with ethical issues that arise during the care of patients, such as end-of-life care, patient autonomy, informed consent.
Public health ethics: The study of ethical issues that arise in public health practices, policies and research. It includes issues such as social justice, the role of governments in health promotion, and privacy concerns in public health.
Research ethics: The study of ethical issues that arise during research with human subjects, such as informed consent, confidentiality, and the appropriate use of placebo controls.
Nursing ethics: Focuses on the ethical issues that arise during nursing care, such as respect for patient autonomy, patient confidentiality, and the duty to provide compassionate care.
Bioinformatics ethics: Focuses on the ethical issues that arise in the management, analysis, and dissemination of biomedical data, including issues of privacy, confidentiality.
Health policy ethics: The study of ethical issues that arise in the development and implementation of health policy, including distributive justice, resource allocation, and patient rights.
Social media ethics: This is a relatively new area of medical ethics that focuses on ethical issues that arise due to increased use of social media in medical journalism, including issues of privacy, disclosure, and professionalism.
"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."