Bioethics Summer Class 2024-2025 – Key Vocabulary (Chapters 10-17)

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering major concepts, procedures, rights, and ethical principles discussed in Chapters 10 – 17 of the Bioethics Summer Class 2024-2025 lecture notes.

Patient’s Right

A moral and inviolable power possessed by every patient to do, hold, or demand something as their own, imposing a correlative duty on others to respect it.

Informed Consent

The patient’s voluntary agreement to a specific medical procedure after receiving all necessary information about risks, benefits, and alternatives.

Informed Decision

A patient’s choice about treatment made after receiving and understanding all relevant information.

Informed Choice

The right of a patient to know all possible alternatives and consequences and to select among them freely.

Competence (in healthcare)

A patient’s mental capacity to make, justify, and reasonably defend a healthcare decision.

Disclosure

The content of information given to a patient during consent negotiations, ensuring awareness of procedures and outcomes.

Comprehension

The patient’s understanding of disclosed information—essential for valid consent.

Voluntariness

Freedom from coercion or undue pressure when a patient consents to treatment or research.

Right to Refuse Treatment

The patient’s legal and moral entitlement to decline medical intervention after being informed of consequences.

Written Consent

Documented, signed permission for treatment or research participation.

Verbal Consent

Spoken permission for a medical procedure, acceptable in some situations but usually documented in the record.

Contraception

Intentional prevention of pregnancy through chemical, physical, or behavioral methods.

Family Planning

Deliberate decision-making about if and when to have children.

Sterilization

A permanent method of contraception achieved by surgically blocking reproductive capacity.

Voluntary Sterilization

Sterilization performed with the informed consent of the individual.

Involuntary Sterilization

Sterilization performed without the person’s consent, often mandated by authorities.

Therapeutic Sterilization

Sterilization carried out to treat or prevent a serious health risk.

Contraceptive Sterilization

Sterilization chosen solely to avoid future pregnancies.

Eugenic/Social Sterilization

Sterilization intended to prevent reproduction among individuals deemed ‘unfit’ by society.

Punitive Sterilization

Sterilization imposed as punishment for certain crimes, e.g., sexual offenses.

Withdrawal (Coitus Interruptus)

Traditional contraceptive method in which the man withdraws before ejaculation.

Condom

A latex sheath worn over the penis during intercourse to prevent sperm entry and reduce STI risk.

Diaphragm

A dome-shaped latex device inserted into the vagina to cover the cervix and block sperm.

Rhythm/Calendar Method

Natural family-planning technique that avoids intercourse on predicted fertile days.

Contraceptive Pill

Oral hormonal medication (estrogen ± progestin) taken daily to inhibit ovulation.

Intrauterine Device (IUD)

A small plastic or metal device placed in the uterus to prevent conception or implantation.

Tubal Ligation

Surgical blocking or cutting of the fallopian tubes to prevent egg–sperm meeting.

Vasectomy

Cutting and sealing the vas deferens to prevent sperm from entering semen.

Artificial Insemination (AI)

Medical placement of semen in the female reproductive tract without sexual intercourse.

AIH (Homologous Insemination)

Artificial insemination using the husband’s sperm.

AID (Heterologous Insemination)

Artificial insemination using donor sperm when the husband’s is unavailable or unsuitable.

Nuremberg Code

1947 ten-point statement of ethical principles governing human experimentation, emphasizing voluntary consent.

Placebo

An inert substance used as a control in clinical trials to measure a drug’s true effect.

Genetic Engineering

Direct manipulation of an organism’s DNA to alter genes or add new ones for desired traits.

Genetic Testing

Biochemical or chromosomal analysis to detect inherited disorders or carrier status.

Prenatal Diagnosis

Procedures like amniocentesis or fetoscopy to detect fetal abnormalities during pregnancy.

Gene Therapy

Treatment that repairs, replaces, or regulates defective genes to cure or prevent disease.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Laboratory fertilization of an egg outside the body, followed by embryo transfer to the uterus.

Embryo Transfer (ET)

Placement of an in-vitro-fertilized embryo into a woman’s uterus for pregnancy.

Surrogate Motherhood

Arrangement in which a woman carries a pregnancy for intended parents, either genetically related (traditional) or not (gestational).

Sex Selection

Techniques used to choose an offspring’s sex before or after conception.

Cloning

Creation of a genetically identical organism by replacing an egg nucleus with somatic cell DNA.

Lobotomy (Psychosurgery)

Surgical destruction of brain tissue to alter behavior or mood; largely obsolete today.

Cingulotomy

Psychosurgical severing of part of the cingulate gyrus to treat severe depression or OCD.

Lithium Hydroxide

Mood-stabilizing drug effective in manic-depressive (bipolar) illness.

Claim to Health Care

The moral right of individuals to demand access to necessary medical services.

Allocation of Scarce Resources

Ethical process of deciding who receives limited medical treatments like organs or ICU beds.

Sexual Deviation

Any sexual activity a society labels unnatural or abnormal, e.g., fetishes or paraphilias.

Homosexuality

Sexual attraction or relations between individuals of the same sex.

Sadism

Deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain on another person.

Masochism

Deriving sexual pleasure from experiencing pain or humiliation oneself.

Pornography

Sexually explicit material intended chiefly to arouse; often criticized for commodifying sex.

Prostitution

Exchange of sexual services for money or other compensation.

Safe-Sex Commandment: Condom Use

Always use condoms (preferably with spermicide) to reduce pregnancy and STI risk.

Safe-Sex Commandment: Limit Partners

Restrict the number of sexual partners to lower infection risk.

Utilitarianism (bioethics)

Ethical view judging actions by their overall benefit or happiness produced for the greatest number.

Kantian Ethics (bioethics)

Moral theory stressing respect for persons, autonomy, and treating individuals as ends in themselves.

Natural Law Ethics

Philosophical–theological tradition asserting moral norms rooted in human nature and purpose.

Situation Ethics (Fletcher)

Ethical approach holding that moral rightness depends on loving outcomes within specific contexts.

Rawls’s Principle of Justice

Theory advocating fair distribution of social goods, giving priority to the least advantaged.

Ross’s Prima Facie Duties

Ethical framework of multiple, conditional duties such as beneficence, non-maleficence, and fidelity.

Placebo Paternalistic Defense

Justification of placebo use by claiming therapeutic benefit outweighs the deceptive element.

Placebo Utilitarian Defense

Argument that deception is acceptable if placebo use yields greater societal benefit.

Autograft

Transplant of tissue from one site to another within the same individual.

Homograft (Allograft)

Transplant of tissue between two individuals of the same species but different genetic makeup.

Heterograft (Xenograft)

Transplant of tissue between different species.

Isograft

Transplant between genetically identical individuals, such as identical twins.

Dyspareunia

Painful sexual intercourse experienced by either partner.

Vaginismus

Involuntary vaginal muscle contraction preventing penetration.

Syphilis

Bacterial sexually transmitted infection characterized by progressive systemic symptoms if untreated.

Gonorrhea

Common bacterial STI causing urethral or cervical infection and potential infertility.

AIDS

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, late stage of HIV infection characterized by severe immune failure.