Defending the four principles approach as a good basis for good …
WEBThis paper argues that the four prima facie principles—beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for autonomy and justice—afford a good and widely acceptable basis for ‘doing good medical ethics’. It confronts objections that the approach is simplistic, incompatible with a virtue-based approach to medicine, that it requires respect for autonomy always to have priority when the principles ...
Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 5th edn.
WEBBeauchamp T L, Childress J F. Oxford University Press, 2001, £19.95, pp 454. ISBN 0-19-514332-9. The Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Beauchamp and Childress is a classic in the field of medical ethics. The first edition was published in 1979 and “unleashed” the four principles of respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and …
Why is informed consent important? - Journal of Medical Ethics
WEBDecision-making is a prominent theme in this edition of the Journal of Medical Ethics . Our feature article examines the relationship between trust and informed consent. Informed consent is, of course, central to the decision-making process in medicine. In addition, several articles consider decision-making in medicine from a variety of angles. In our feature article, Nir Eyal attacks attempts ...
Clinical ethics and the duty of care - Journal of Medical Ethics
WEBScholarly inquiry into medical ethics should inform and guide those involved in making challenging ethical decisions.1 It should strive to be integral to the work of health care professionals and health care institutions2 and clinical relevance seems essential for this to happen. To acknowledge the importance of clinical relevance for medical ethics, the Journal of Medical Ethics has ...
Confidentiality and the duties of care - Journal of Medical Ethics
WEBDoctors have an ethical and legal duty to respect patient confidentiality. We consider the basis for this duty, looking particularly at the meaning and value of autonomy in health care. Enabling patients to decide how information about them is disclosed is an important element in autonomy and helps patients engage as active partners in their care. Good quality data is, however, essential for ...
After-birth abortion: why should the baby live? - Journal of …
WEBAbortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus' health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth ...
WEBA4R is a practical decision- making framework for priority setting that has been used in various areas of healthcare to support fair resource allocation. It is a process- based rather than an outcomes- based framework, focusing on how decisions ought to be made rather than on the outcomes of those deci-sions.
Assisted suicide by oxygen deprivation with helium at a Swiss right …
WEBBackground In Switzerland, right-to-die organisations assist their members with suicide by lethal drugs, usually barbiturates. One organisation, Dignitas, has experimented with oxygen deprivation as an alternative to sodium pentobarbital. Objective To analyse the process of assisted suicide by oxygen deprivation with helium and a common face mask and reservoir bag. Method This study examined ...
Hard lessons: learning from the Charlie Gard case
WEBOn 24 July 2017, the long-running, deeply tragic and emotionally fraught case of Charlie Gard reached its sad conclusion (box 1). Following further medical assessment of the infant, Charlie’s parents and doctors finally reached agreement that continuing medical treatment was not in Charlie’s best interests. Life support was subsequently withdrawn and Charlie died on 28 July 2017.Box 1 ...
Staffing crisis capacity: a different approach to healthcare resource ...
WEBSevere staffing shortages have emerged as a prominent threat to maintaining usual standards of care during the COVID-2019 pandemic. In dire settings of crisis capacity, healthcare systems assume the ethical duty to maximise aggregate population-level benefit of existing resources. To this end, existing plans for rationing mechanical ventilators and intensive care unit beds in crisis capacity ...