Principles of Biomedical Ethics

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental terms, historical developments, key figures, and theoretical frameworks in biomedical ethics.

Ethics

A set of moral principles and a code for behavior that govern an individual's actions with other individuals and within society, derived from the Greek word "ethos".

Morality

What people believe to be right and good, while ethics is a critical reflection about morality.

Bios

The Greek root word meaning "life".

Ethos

The Greek word meaning custom, habit, character, or disposition.

Medeor

The Latin word meaning "heal".

Etymological Roots of Biomedical Ethics

The linguistic foundations of bioethics combining Bios (Greek for life), Ethos (Greek for custom, habit, character, or disposition), and Medeor (Latin for heal).

Bioethics

Refers to the moral issues and problems that have arisen as a result of modern medicine and medical research; the systematic study of human conduct in the areas of the life sciences and health care.

Medical Ethics

A field of applied ethics that involves the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to medicine, encompassing clinical applications, history, philosophy, theology, sociology, and anthropology.

Biomedical Ethics

A system of values leading to acceptable, right, moral behavior with regard to the preservation of health and life.

Framework of Bioethics

A conceptual framework dividing bioethics into Principles (founded on morality/ethics), Applications (addressing bodily life, beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues), and Professional conduct (guiding health practice, hospital regulations, and social policies).

Hammurabi's Code of Laws

Considered the first documented Code used by human civilization in Babylonian Mesopotamia; made the first declaration of human rights in history and specified fees and punishments for medical practice.

Awelum

The term used in Hammurabi's Code for a nobleman.

Mushkenu

The term used in Hammurabi's Code for a poor man.

The Hippocratic Oath

A compilation of ancient texts from circa 500 BCE that marks the beginning of Western medical ethical reasoning, establishing principles of non-maleficence, beneficence, confidentiality, and prohibition of patient exploitation.

Primum Non Nocere

The Latin ethical principle of non-maleficence meaning "first, do no harm".

Salus Aegroti Suprema Lex

The Latin ethical principle of beneficence meaning "the welfare of the sick is the supreme law".

Sun Si Miao

A Chinese physician (581–682) during the Tang Dynasty who authored "Essential Prescription Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold" and "On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Physician", emphasizing that human life is of paramount importance.

Moses Maimonides

A Jewish rabbi, physician, and philosopher (1138–1204) in Morocco and Egypt who authored "Guide to Good Health" and to whom the Oath of Maimonides is attributed.

Thomas Percival

An English physician and philosopher associated with the Manchester Infirmary who coined the term "medical ethics" in a 1794 pamphlet expanded in 1803.

Van Rensselaer Potter

An oncologist at the University of Wisconsin who first recorded the term "bioethics" in 1970 in his book "Bioethics – a Bridge to the Future".

Henry Beecher

A professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School who published landmark papers in 1966 and 1968 addressing clinical research ethics and decision-making for hopelessly unconscious patients.

Normative Ethics

An approach to ethics that attempts to answer which general norms for the guidance and evaluation of conduct are worthy of moral acceptance and for what reasons.

Applied Ethics

The branch of ethics that uses ethical theory and analytical methods to examine specific moral problems, practices, and policies in professional and public domains.

Religious Norms

Norms characterized by the concept of "sanctity" (rather than "good"), which are absolute and unconditional, where violations constitute a sin rather than a mistake against human dignity.

Expressive Level

The first level of moral response according to Thomas J and Waluchow W (1998), consisting of unanalyzed expressions or feelings that by themselves do not provide justification.

Pre-reflective Level

The second level of moral response according to Thomas J and Waluchow W (1998), where justification is based on laws, religious tenets, social values, or codes of ethics accepted uncritically.

Reflective Level

The third level of moral response according to Thomas J and Waluchow W (1998), characterized by reasoned ethical arguments based on principles, rules, virtues, and values to which one consciously subscribes.