Bioethics lesson 1

Ethics

Ethics traces its roots from the Greek word ethikos, which means moral duty. It is the study of human actions or conduct from a moral perspective as to whether they are good or bad.

Biology

Biology is the study of living things and their vital processes. It deals with the physicochemical aspects of life and connects with medicine, chemistry, and physics.

Bioethics

Bioethics refers to the ethics of life or biology. It applies ethics to biological sciences, medicine, and related fields.

Health Care Ethics

Health care ethics is the field of applied ethics concerned with moral decision-making situations in the practice of medicine, including procedures and policies that guide practice.

Professional Ethics

Professional ethics is a branch of moral science concerned with obligations that a member of a profession owes to the public, profession, and clients.

Principlism

Principlism uses four major ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

Universalist Bioethics

This approach resolves dilemmas through consensus or the option preferred by the majority. Consensus is considered the best form of authority.

Personalistic Bioethics

Personalistic bioethics places the human person and their dignity at the center of the decision.

Utilitarian Bioethics

Utilitarian bioethics seeks the greatest possible benefit for the greatest number of people.

Autonomy

The patient has the right to make informed decisions about their own body.

Beneficence

Beneficence is listed as one of the four major ethical principles in Principlism.

Non-maleficence

Do No Harm. The nurse must prevent avoidable harm.

Justice

Justice is listed as one of the four major ethical principles in Principlism.

Human Dignity

The human person and their dignity should be at the center of the decision.

Privacy

Every person has the right to privacy and respect. Nurses must protect confidential information and never share private details.

Informed Consent

Before any procedure, nurses must obtain informed consent from patients.

Professionalism

Ethical behavior is important online and offline. Nurses should use social media responsibly and maintain professional conduct.

Accountability

Nurses must act responsibly and accountably toward patients and coworkers.

Abortion

An ethical issue because it involves pregnancy, life, maternal health, beliefs, and patient choice.

Euthanasia

An ethical issue because it involves end-of-life decisions, suffering, dignity, and the value of human life.

Suicide

An ethical issue because the patient may be in danger and needs protection, respect, privacy, and mental health support.

DNR

An ethical issue because it involves the patient's right to refuse CPR and the family's emotions during serious illness.

Cloning

An ethical issue because it raises questions about genetics, identity, human dignity, safety, and the limits of science.

Human Experimentation

An ethical issue because research using human participants can cause harm if consent and safety are ignored.

In Vitro Fertilization

An ethical issue because assisted fertilization involves embryos, family decisions, cost, success rates, and beliefs about reproduction.

Birth Control

An ethical issue because it involves reproductive decisions, personal beliefs, culture, religion, and patient autonomy.

Homosexuality

An ethical issue in health care when patients experience discrimination, stigma, or unequal treatment.

Hippocrates

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician who taught that diseases could have natural causes and should be studied through observation and reasoning.

Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic Oath is associated with the medical tradition of Hippocrates, which emphasized observing patients carefully and understanding diseases through observation and reason.

Nuremberg Code

The Nuremberg Code was created after World War II abuses and required voluntary consent in research, protected people from harmful experiments, and strengthened human rights in healthcare.

Heart Transplant

The first human heart transplant was in 1967, raising questions about death and consent, making organ donation ethics important, and highlighting fair organ allocation.

Medical Deontology

Medical deontology focused on professional duties, promoted proper conduct in hospitals, helped create medical ethics codes, and inspired modern nursing codes of ethics.

Scholasticism and Natural Law

Scholasticism and Natural Law emphasized the value of human life, used reason to understand moral duties, discussed preserving life and doing good, and influenced end-of-life ethical thinking.

Potter

Potter popularized the word bioethics, connected science with human values, said ethics must guide medical progress, and expanded bioethics beyond hospitals.