BIOETHICS

CU1: INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS HEALTHCARE ETHICS

ETHICS ➢ Is the field of applied ethics that is concerned

with the wide array of moral decision-making
➢ A Practical science of morality of human conduct
situations that relates to human health.
that implies direction
➢ The discipline concerned with what is morally THE HUMAN BEING:
good and bad and morally right and wrong.
THE PERSON
SCIENCE
➢ (Biblical) Created in the image and likeness of
➢ Deals with complete and systematic body of God; differing from animals due to possession of
factual and empirical data and reasoning. spiritual intelligence and free will.
➢ God produces the human body through the
MORAL
cooperation of human parents; the creation of
➢ Dictates of reason on how things should be. the human soul is direct act of God.
➢ Each person is unique and irreplaceable; and are
HUMAN CONDUCT called not only to maturity but to eternal life.
➢ Deliberate, free and how one person should act. HUMAN ACTS

o Moral issues deals with respect for life, freedom, ➢ Is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free
love, issues that provokes conscience; issues that will of man. Man knows what he is doing and
responds to ought, should, right, wrong, good, freely chooses to do what he does;
bad and complicate. ➢ Not all acts are Human Acts; for an act to be
o In philosophical influence, they stem from human it must have:
happenings since the ancient times until the - Knowledge
contemporary period. - Freedom
o Morality is a personal sense of right or wrong. - Voluntariness

DEFINITION OF TERMS: KNOWLEDGE

ETHICS ➢ Of what it is about and what it means.

➢ Facts, information, and skills acquired by a
➢ Concerns the needs and values of human person through experience or education; the
persons in all matters of human concern theoretical or practical understanding of a
including health; nothing is more human and subject:
personal than health. ➢ Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of
BIOETHICS a fact or situation.
- Ex: What will I do?
➢ A science that deals with the study of the - Why do I have to do it?
morality of human conduct concerning human
life in all its aspects from the moment of its FREEDOM
conception to its natural end. ➢ To do or leave it undone without coercion or
constraint;
➢ It implies voluntariness which is to rationally
choose by deliberate will the object.
- Ex. Freedom of expression and speech
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CONSCIENCE/VOLUNTARINESS ➢ According to English philosopher Jonathan Wolff,

John Rawls was the most important political
➢ Spiritual discernment;
philosopher of the 20th century.
➢ Capacity to make practical judgement in matters
involving ethical issues; JOHN RAWL’S 2 PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE
➢ The person’s most secret sanctuary where
1. Each person has equal basic human rights and
he/she is alone with God;
liberties of citizenship.
➢ ”The more a correct conscience prevails the
2. Social and economic inequalities are acceptable
more do persons and groups turn aside from
only if they benefit the least advantaged
blind choice and try to be guided by the objective
members of the society.
standards of moral conduct“
- Ex. Natural law ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
- Civil Law
- Code of Ethics ➢ Born 1225; Sicily, Italy
➢ Proclaimed Doctor of the Catholic Church
ACTS OF MAN ➢ Joined the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers
– OP)
➢ Actions beyond one’s consciousness; not
➢ Patron Saint of Universities and Scholars
dependent on the intellect and will
➢ Thomas's ethics - "first principles of action.“
➢ Essential qualities of Acts of Man
➢ Summa theologiae, he wrote:
o Done without knowledge
o Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a
o Without consent
power;
o Involuntary
o Now a thing's perfection is considered
- Ex. Unconscious
chiefly in regard to its end.
ETHICAL PHILOSOPHERS
ST. THOMAS’S FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES
IMMANUEL KANT
• Prudence
➢ (1724-1804) • Temperance
➢ A German philosopher • Fortitude
➢ An opponent of utilitarianism. • Justice
KANT’S DEONTOLOGICAL MORAL THEORY: AQUINAS’ ETHICS
➢ Act done in accord with duty and act done from ➢ “Do good, avoid evil”
a sense of duty. ➢ the inherent capacity of every individual, lettered
➢ Categorical Imperative. or unlettered to distinguish the good from the
- Ex: Performing nursing functions out of bad through reason and reflection (syndresis).
the desire to do so or out of fear of being ➢ Double effect principles - situation in which a
accused of negligence. good and evil effect will result.
➢ Principle of totality.
JOHN BORDLEY RAWL
THREE DETERMINANTS OF MORAL ACTION:
➢ Born: February 21, 1921
➢ An American moral and political philosopher. 1. Object - The will intends
➢ Professorship at Harvard University, University of 2. Circumstances - May mitigate or aggravate
Oxford. 3. End of the agent – Purpose
➢ His magnum opus, A Theory of Justice (1971).
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WILLIAM DAVID ROSS UTILITARIANISM

➢ Born: April 15, 1877; Thurso, Scotland ➢ Right action is that which has the greatest utility
➢ Scottish philosopher and no action is in itself either good or bad.
➢ “The end justifies the means”- sometimes it is
THE PRIMA FACIE DUTIES OR MORAL GUIDELINES
possible to do wrong to achieve “right”.
➢ According to W. D. Ross (1877-1971), there are ➢ The only right action are those that produce the
several prima facie duties that we can use to greatest happiness to all concerned.
determine what, concretely, we ought to do.
CONSEQUENTIALISM/TELEOLOGY
➢ A prima facie duty is a duty that is binding
(obligatory). ➢ Consequentialist moral theories evaluate the
➢ "Unless stronger moral considerations outweigh, morality of actions in terms of progress toward a
one ought to keep a promise made." goal or end. The consequences of the action are
what matter, not their intent.
THE PRIMA FACIE DUTIES INCLUDES:
➢ Sometimes called teleology, using the Greek
• Fidelity term telos, which refers to “ends.” Thus, one
• Reparation finds that the goal of consequentialism is often
• Gratitude stated as the greatest good for the greatest
• Justice number.
• Beneficence VIRTUE ETHICS IN NURSING
• Self-Improvement
• Non- maleficence - Virtue ethics, sometimes called character ethics,
represents the idea that individuals’ actions are
CU2: THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF based upon a certain degree of innate moral
HEALTH CARE ETHICS virtue.
➢ Moral philosophy is the branch of philosophy FOUR FOCAL VIRTUES THAT ARE MORE PIVOTAL THAN
that examines beliefs and assumptions about OTHERS IN CHARACTERIZING A VIRTUOUS PERSON:
certain human values.
1. Compassion
➢ Ethics is the practical application of moral
2. Discernment
philosophy; that is, given the moral context of
3. Trustworthiness
good or bad, right or wrong, “What should I do in
4. Integrity
this situation?”
➢ The philosopher reveals an integrated global
- The Nightingale Pledge, composed by Lystra
vision in which elements, like pieces of a puzzle,
Gretter in 1893 and traditionally recited by
have a logical fit.
graduating nurses, implies virtue of character as
DEONTOLOGY nurses promise purity, faith, loyalty, devotion,
trustworthiness, and temperance. It is
➢ Rationalist view that the rightness or wrongness
reasonable to say that good character is the
of an act depends upon the nature of the act
cornerstone of good nursing, and that the nurse
rather than the consequences that occur as a
with virtue will act according to principle.
result of it.
➢ A person’s action is wrong, without exception, if
it violates these rules.

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CORE VALUES OF A PROFESSIONAL NURSE

• Nursing is a caring profession.

• Caring encompasses empathy for and
connection with people.
• Caring is best demonstrated by a nurse's ability
to embody the five core values of professional
nursing.

CORE NURSING VALUES:

• Human dignity
• Integrity
• Autonomy
• Altruism
• Social justice
- The caring professional nurse integrates these
values in clinical practice.

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