Guevarra, Eunice B.

BSN 2B

BIOETHICS

Essay

CHAPTER 3 DECISION MAKING IN VALUE ISSUES AND PRIVATE LAW

1.   Outline the theoretical positions known as duty-oriented, consequence-oriented, divine mandate,

and virtue ethics reasoning

Duty oriented ethicists feel the basic rightness or wrongness of an act depends on its intrinsic
nature rather than on the situation or the consequences. This theoretical position is a theory
taken from the Greek word for duty.

 An act in itself would be either right or wrong; it could not be both

 Kant based his moral philosophy on the crucial fact that we are rational beings, and a
central feature of his rationality was that we are rational beings, and a central feature of
this rationality was that principles derived from reason are universal.

 Kant held that the human mind works the same way, regardless of who you are, where
you are, or when you are.

 An action could be known to be right when it was in accordance with a rule that satisfied
a principle, he called a categorical imperative.

 Categorical he me they do not admit formulated by finding a maxim that could be

understood as universal law.

 Three elements (1) universal applications (2) unconditionality, and (3) demanding an
action.

 “we must always treat others as ends and not as means only”

 Accordingly, our dignity was derived from this capacity, and this was violated whenever
a person was treated merely as a means to an end (a thing) and not as a person.
  An action, then, could judged right or wrong by determining its relationship to a
categorical imperative even without knowledged of the particular circumstances.

 The right action is one based on a correct principle regardless of the results.

 Duty-oriented theorist argue among themselves as how principles are derived, with
some claiming the basis to be natural law, while others look to religious dictate, intuition,
social contract, pure reason, or common sense.

Divine Mandate is a theory often used in ethical debates, so it merits inclusion in this survey of
standard ethical theories.

 There is divine being who has set down a finite series of rules that adherents claim can
provide guidance to most if not all, moral decisions.
 An important role in divine mandate is the Ten Commandments taken from the Judeo-
Christian traditions.
 It includes key moral prohibitions common to most cultures, as well as some specific
rules set down to exact adherence to a particular religion.
 The ten commandments provide rules against stealing, adultery, murder, and so on.
 A variant of divine command theory based on a nondivine but morally exemplary
individual such as the Budda.
 It is clear that divine command ethics often provides a meaningful system for decisions
making for those who believe in a higher power.

Virtue Ethics deals with the honesty and morality of a person. It states that practicing good
habits such as honesty, generosity makes a moral and virtuous person. It guides a person
without specific rules for resolving the ethical complexity.

 The question is not, “What shall I do?” but rather, “How should I carry out my life if I am
to live well?”
 The primary focus of virtue ethics is the heart of the moral agent making the decisions
rather than the reasoning to a right action.
 Virtue ethics places its focus on the sort of characteristics, traits, or virtues that a good
person should have.
 The belief is that someone who has appropriate moral virtues such as courage,
temperance, wisdom, and justice will naturally act in certain ways.
  Virtue ethics is primarily about personal character and moral habit development rather
than a particular action.
 The moral virtues, then, are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature,
indeed prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the
product habit.

2.       Differentiate between act and rule utilitarianism.

Act utilitarianism is the purest from of utilitarianism. One judges the utility of an act by
listing the possible options and then calculating the amount of pleasure each provides and
selects the course of action that maximizes pleasure while the Rule Utilitarianism seeks to
avoid the hedonic calculus of act of utilitarianism in which each option must by measured by the
principle of utility. Rule utilitarianism holds that an action can be right if it conforms to a rule that
has been previously validated by the principle of utility.

3.       Define res ipsa loquitor and cite an example.

The Latin phrase "res ipsa loquitur" means "the thing speaks for itself." The idea of res
ipsa loquitur (or simply "res ipsa" for short) is an evidentiary rule in personal injury law that
permits plaintiffs to establish a rebuttable presumption of defendant negligence through the use
of circumstantial evidence. For example In medical negligence cases, res ipsa loquitur can be
invoked only when: (1) the patient suffers an injury that is not an expected complication of
medical care; (2) the injury does not normally occur unless someone has been negligent; and
(3) the defendant was responsible for the patient’s well-being at the time of the injury. Another
example would be performing an operation wherein a Doctor left an instrument inside the
patient’s body after a surgery then the idea of res ipsa loquitor can be apply here.
CHAPTER 4 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH CARE AND THE NATURE OF RIGHTS IN
ETHICAL DISCOURSE

1. Define the basic principles found in health care ethics

In health care delivery the major goal and purpose in our field is to deal with the
prevention of death and alleviation of suffering as secondary goals. The basic principles are
curated to allow health care professionals to determine the right and wrong that deals with the
values issues and through the seven (7) universal principles we can practice proper health care
delivery. It includes autonomy, which is the self-governance or a personal form of liberty where
they are free to choose and act upon their own decision without the influence of others;
Veracity or in simple terms being truthful, as the truth creates a bond between the practitioner
and the patient in order to provide the appropriate care that can be provided; Beneficence as
the acts of mercy and charity or any action that benefits another meaning our action must have
a positive outcome towards preventing, or removing harm and promote good; Nonmaleficence,
almost the same in beneficence but differ as they ought to not inflict evil or harm to our patient;
Confidentiality as the individual’s right to privacy in healthcare this can alos be equated in the
aspect of trust among the patients and the practitioner; Justice as it deals with the concepts of
fairness regardless of status, age, race, religion and orientation and lastly Role Fidelity as
everyone on the healthcare assumed to their proper and appropriate duties for the whole team
to function.

2. Explain how the principle of double effect attempts to resolve the ethical issue of side
effects and the duty of nonmaleficence

The principle of double effects is doing something for the betterment of the patient with
the right intentions but having an unintentional secondary side-effects for example,
administering an anti-inflammatory or analgesic to a rheumatic patient with a complaint of pain
so we administer the drugs in attempt to regain the proper function of the patient but it may lead
for a sudden risk for a kidney failure, the principle of double effects justifies the action as the
drugs were used for the intended pain and not for the latter then it would be considered morally
correct as long as the intent was for the good intention.
3. Explain how the principle of informed consent is derived from the basic principle of
autonomy.

Informed consent is the process of giving proper disclosure of information,

understanding, voluntariness, competence and permission giving. A patient can only be free to
select an option once we open up and establish an understanding about a topic we sufficient
knowledge to guide the client to create their own decision and once established then the patient
can now have the position to refuse or grant consent in dealing with health through healthcare.
However there are some considerations in arriving to an informed consent, it is said that a legal
exception to an informed consent would be if the situation have been made in an emergency
and incompetence of the client under the therapeutic privilege the criticism of a therapeutic
privilege is that the practitioner have the right to allowed to intentionally withhold information
that based from them could be potentially harmful an unstable patient through the use of their
medical judgement in benevolent deception.