BIOETHICS HANDOUTS

MORALITY - Refers to the general area of right and wrong in theory and practice of human behaviour

ETHICS – it is a practical and normative science, based on reason, which studies human acts and provides norms for their
goodness or badness.

BIOLOGY - is the science concerned with the study of life and living organism.

BIOETHICS -It is a branch of applied ethics which investigates practices and developments in the life science and or
biomedical fields.

EVOLUTION OF BIOETHICS

1. Medical Ethics
Formulation of Medical Ethics:
a. Hippocratic Oath-(Hipppocrates, the Father of Medicine, Greece 460-357BC)
-Underscores the physician’s all-out concern for the patient to be kept from harm & injustice
- No prescription of fatal drugs
- Rule out any form of abortifacient
- No sexual relations between doctors & patients
- Moral significance of confidentiality or medical secrecy
- Fulfilment of the oath will bring about honor, fame & joy in medical practice
b. Percival’s Medical Ethics (England, 1803)
c. American Medical Association’s Code of Ethics (1847)
d. Followed by a supplement of similar code of ethics for many groups of health professionals such as:
dentists’ code of ethics, the teachers’ code of conduct, nursing code of ethics.
e. Other nonmedical professions contribute to the articulation of ethical issues such as: secretarial
ethics, business ethics, journalists ethics

2. Research Ethics- Second Phase in bioethical studies

- Biomedical Research-refers to the use of humans as experimental specimens.E.g. prisoners,
poor patients, children, fetuses.
- Use of non-consenting concentration camp prisoners during the dictatorial regime of Adolf
Hitler & the Nazis for the reproduction of “super offspring”.
- Third Reich (covers the years 1933-1945
- Nuremburg Code (1947) was drafted in an attempt to humanize the cruel
& barbaric nture of experiments

3. Public Policy -Emphasizes the participatory aspect of decision making in a democratic set-up with regard to the
formulation of public policies.

Health Ethics -It is “the division of ethics that focuses on human health
Professional Ethics -Professional ethics is a branch of moral science concerned with the obligations which a member of a
profession owes to the public, to his profession and to his clients.

THE HUMAN ACTS AND ACTS OF MAN

A.Knowledge
Human Acts- are performed with intellectual deliberation and freedom.
Acts of Man- refers to those which are performed in the absence of either or both of the two conditions
(of a human act)- knowledge and consent of the will.

B. Freedom - It is the condition of being able to act, move without restrictions

C. Voluntariness
ETHICAL SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS (THEORIES)

A.Teleological – or consequential (Greek word telos, teleos means end or purpose)

B.Deontological – (Greek word deon, deontos means discourse on duty or obligation)
C.Natural Law Ethics – St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) a profound Italian philosopher and theologian.
-The source of moral law is reason itself because it directs us towards the good as the goal of our action, and
that good is discoverable within our nature

Threefold Natural Inclination of man:

Self-preservation
Dealing with others
Propagation of our species

Three determinants of moral action:

1.The object – which the will intends directly and primarily
2.The circumstances – the conditions which, when superadded to the nature of the moral act, will affect
its morality.
-Aggravating or mitigating circumstances
Who? – the person involved in the moral act, his prestige, rank, excellence.
What? – the quantity or quality of the moral object.
Where? – denotes the place where the act occurs.
By what means? – the means used in carrying out the act.
How? – the manner in which the action is done
When? – time element involved in the performance of the act ,quantity & quality
3.The end or purpose- a good act with a bad motive makes the moral action bad.

synderesis
-inherent capacity of every individual, lettered or unlettered, to distinguish the good from the bad
- voice of right reason or voice of conscience

d. Utilitarianism - an action or practice is right if it leads to the greatest possible balance of good consequences in the
world as a whole.

VIRTUE ETHICS in Nursing

VIRTUE ETHICS or CHARACTER ETHICS
- individual actions are based upon a certain degree of innate moral virtue.

3 Criteria of a virtuous character:

1. Virtuous acts must be chosen for their own sake
2. Choice must proceed from a firm and
unchangeable character
3. Virtue is a disposition to choose the mean

Florence Nightingale- virtue is an important trait of a good nurse

Nightingale Pledge - implies virtue of character as nurses promise purity, faith, loyalty, devotion,
trustworthiness, and temperance
Good character is the cornerstone of good nursing
A nurse with virtue will act according to principle
Aristotle - believe that virtue can be practiced and learned, so we can learn through practice.

FOCAL VIRTUES
1. COMPASSION - ability to imagine oneself in the situation of another
2. DISCERNMENT- sensitive insights involving acute judgment and understanding resulting in a decisive action
3. TRUSTWORTHINESS - a confident belief in the moral character of another person
4. INTEGRITY - soundness, reliability, wholeness, and an integration of moral character

Values - one set of personal beliefs and attitude about the truth, beauty and worth of any
thought, object or behavior. These are action oriented and give direction and meaning to one's life'.
Personal values - are values internalized from the society or culture in which one lives.
Professional values - are values acquired during socialization into nursing from codes of ethics, nursing
experiences, teachers, and peers.
core values of nursing
Human Dignity - Is a respect for the inherent worth and uniqueness of individuals and populations.
Integrity - respecting the dignity and moral wholeness of every person without conditions or limitation
Autonomy
Altruism
Social justice
Other Nursing values: Safe & competent
Health & well –being
Choice
Dignity
Confidentiality
Justice
Accountability
Diversity