Healthcare Ethics Flashcards: Exam 1

What is the difference between a description, and evaluative claim, and a moral claim?

Descriptive Claim: Describing something. An informative and factual representation of something, like saying the sky is blue. Sort of like our charting language.

Evaluative Claim: Evaluating something. A judgement claim based off of values; black-and-white thinking. When things are good or bad.

Moral Claim: A type of evaluative claim that judges actions as being good or bad solely through a moral or ethical lens. This is what we are going to do about the evaluative claim.

What is the difference between normative and applied ethics?

Normative Ethics: Based on norms. This is what guides the applied questions. Some principles can be given to a general rule or value. Like, trying to determine if something is wrong or right (like abortion). This also connects to character development as well. “One ought not to…” Similar to Mills’ greatest happiness principle.

Applied Ethics: Applying our knowledge. This is what comes after looking at a normative theory. We can look at the ethics of certain things, like medical testing, reproductive justice, disabilities, and applying them to real-life situations. “This affects ___ in the real world.”

• This can sometimes also pose as a question “Was ___ wrong?”

What is the difference between moral values and obligations?

Moral Values: This is the language of “good” or “bad.” Something controversial and opinionated, probably. This can include character traits (like honesty), or bodily autonomy, clean air, care, altruism, etc. This is what guides the moral obligations.

Moral Obligations: This is what you “should” or “should not” do; what is “right” to do versus what is “wrong” to do. This guides our actual behavior based off of our moral values. “You have a duty to…”

What is principalism, and what are some examples?

Principalism: Based off of principles, which are core beliefs that guide our ethical behavior. This is based off of things like autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Sometimes these can conflict!

What is autonomy? Which forms of philosophy is it important for?

Autonomy: A person’s self-determination, to be able to choose their own values and decisions. Patients have the right to refuse certain types of care, even if it would be in their best interest to go through with the treatment option provided (as long as they are of sound mind). This is important in principalism, virtue ethics, deontology, and utilitarianism.

What is the difference between maleficence, non-maleficence, and beneficence?

1. Beneficence: Promoting the welfare of others, and going out of your way to h elp.

2. Non-Maleficence: Avoiding harm, but not actively helping.

3. Maleficence: Actively harming others.

   1. A part of principalism.

What is justice?

Justice: What is considered fair. A part of principalism. This demonstrates how we distribute resources, benefits, and burdens.

What is the difference between means, mere means, and ends?

Means: Based on an instrumental value. The value that comes from something, like how money contributes to happiness. This can represent people, kind of like how we need cashiers in order to get groceries.

• Mere Means: Someone exists solely for your benefit, basically enslavement.

Ends: Based on intrinsic value itself, made without a goal. Something that we all ultimately want, like happiness, or friendship.

What is virtue ethics? How does it relate to virtues and vices?

• Virtue Ethics: Principled by Aristotle. To be moral, you must improve your character instead of following general moral rules. Developing and practicing virtues help us achieve happiness, through “flourishing.”

  • Virtues: A middle-ground between two extremes that are “good.” Also something we can practice (like compassion), sort of like an instrument.

  • Vices: If you practice more devious aspects of character, this is a vice (like dishonesty). And, If you stop practicing compassion, you will lack it over time as well, also considering itself a vice.

What is Deontology?

What are some principles from Kant?

• Deontology: The development of character, or how you can express yourself in various settings.

  • Autonomy: You can’t 100% control your character, because you are formed by your circumstances as well. You also can’t control the consequences of your actions, but if you don’t have control over the action, then you do not have autonomy. You can violate your own autonomy too by violating your own moral laws!

  • Duty: The only thing you can fully control of your actions. We act out of respect to moral laws, but also for ourselves and others.

    • Moral Laws: Ethical rules, essentially. Always absolute, universal, and impartial (for everyone). These are hard rules.

    • Maxims:

• Imperatives: Listed below.

  • Hypothetical: Something that you want! If you don’t want to learn a language, you don’t practice it.

  • Categorical: Like commandments, like do not lie or cheat. These are basically demands.

    • Formula of Universal Law: Basically just that, a universal law. Like bodily autonomy. It would always be rational to follow these. Do not lie, cheat, steal, etc.

    • Formula of Humanity: Everyone has an intrinsic moral value, each person. Autonomy and rationality means that you are human!

• Dignity: If something has instrumental worth, you can put a price on it. But, if you treat a human like that, that’s enslavement, and that’s wrong! That steals their dignity, or their intrinsic worth as a human.

  • Means: We use each other as a way to get something without denying them their dignity, like using customers to get money.

  • Mere Means: Someone exists solely for your benefit, basically enslavement.

What are some principles from Mill?

• Autonomy: This is what gives you intrinsic moral worth that allows morality to exist at all. Us making choices about what we want to do makes us central to being a happy person. Sort of similar to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs!

  • The Harm Principle: Even if something brings you joy, you have to make sure that the action doesn’t harm another person and impede their autonomy. This is non-maleficence, or avoiding harm.

    • If people are aware of risks, then it’s okay for someone to do something that violates their own autonomy. But if it affects others, don’t do it! Like cigarette smoking vs seatbelts.

• Consequentialism: The most morally pressing thing is the morality of your character.

• Utilitarianism: A type of consequentialism, which is beneficence. This is by actively helping the happiness of others. “For the greater good.”

• Hierarchy of Happiness: Happiness is so important it should be at the center of morality. There are lower pleasures that are instant gratification, and higher pleasures that require long-term dedication and satisfaction, thus more happiness.

  • Human Happiness: We need more things to make us happy than our dog, but we also wouldn’t trade places with our dogs.

What is feminism?

Formally, this is a movement t end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. This can look different in different cultures as well. This encapsulates equality, independence, liberation, equal rights and opportunities, choice and autonomy. It can affect the development of moral theories because of the exclusion of this element.

What is the difference between Kant and Mill and Care Ethics?

Abstract: They emphasize a top-down approach. Kant believed that women were irrational, and didn’t include them in theories. Mill’s happiness principle is applied to all contexts: the principle, case, and conclusion, but also shows you where to allocate finite resources, like in a hospital setting; like, we should save the most amount of patients by prioritizing those who need the least amount of resources.

• Kant and Mill argued that differences between people are irrelevant.

Relational People: Care ethics emphasizes the bottom-up theory that’s flexible and requires guidance that can change as needed.

What is care? What are the levels of care?

Kant and Mill ignore the obligations of care, but moral frameworks should capture how we relate to others. We should start from the necessity of care for our development and growth as human beings. Care notes the differences between individuals, because we care for each person different (it’s not universal). This does not mean care is relative and means whatever we want it to mean.

There are levels of care: Family, neighborhoods, justice movements, environment, etc.

What is the difference between impartiality and partiality?

Impartiality: Can help potentially reduce bias and provide equal treatment, sort of like a judge. You wouldn’t want a judge to bend moral rules and discriminate against people. This requires no context, and you are impartial equally to every person.

Partiality: We are partial to everyone, it’s what makes us social! We treat all of our friends differently from complete strangers.

What is the problem with ignoring emotions in moral reasoning?

Emotions have a role in moral life! Emotions do not negatively impact your reasoning. You would save your loved one over a stranger in a moral situation, but that wouldn’t make you irrational. Pure logic is not realistic.

People thought women weren’t rational because of their emotions, especially Kant. But even emotions like anger are important!

What is the difference between raw and reflective emotions?

Raw Emotions: Emotional instincts that are done immediately without thought. This is consistent with Kant and Mill’s concerns.

Reflective Emotions: This is where you think through emotions, have better control of them, and are appropriate to how to express them in different contexts. You think about if the emotion is justified, how you should act in relation to that emotion, and how might it be expressed differently to others.

How is care divided in public and in private?

How is personhood defined in Western versus Eastern contexts?

Western ideals of personhood look like…

• Patients have autonomy, rationality, and self-consciousness.

• Vertical, self-serving relationship.

Eastern ideals of personhood look like…

• Self-activation, self-cultivation, self-reflection, self-reliance (depending on yourself), moral authenticity.

• We are a part of a community —> horizontal relationships.

  • In people who have been married for a long time, they become their own “other halves.” We are a product of our community relations and how we give back to it.

When making medical decisions, who knows best?

We assume patients know best until they have a reason otherwise. When compromised, you can pick a person to make your decisions as long as it’s in the patient’s best interest.

What is Tsai’s relational autonomy in patient care?