HUMAN EXISTENCE AND ETHICS MLS 101: PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
MR. ARTURO MARCLINO JR. Transcriber: AP/ 09152022
ETHICS – the moral code that guides how an individual
should behave based on moral duties and virtues.
- The individual’s search for meaning while dealing
with human problems:
➢ Logical – problems of reasoning
➢ Epistemological – problems of the truth
➢ Cosmological – problems of the universe
➢ Ethical – problems of morality
➢ Aesthetica – problems of art community
➢ Scientific – problems of science
- The school of ethics – deals with diverse
prescription of universal concepts and principles
that serve as foundation of moral beliefs.
- Theoretical prescriptions/critiques:
▪ The nature of the good
▪ The nature of human person
▪ Criteria of judgement
- Mostly influenced by profession, field and
organization
MORALITY – based on principles practiced by a particular
community:
▪ Fundamental convictions of human agent
▪ Character of moral agent
▪ Situational analysis
- Influence by society, culture and religion
WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT MORALITY
1. Morality understood as Law – morality is seen as
something external in the sense that it is not something
for own creation but rather imposes itself to us
- Got from experiences in life, home, school, at work,
our society and in church
- Related to authority figures.
2. Morality as inner conviction – morality has been
internalized and basically comes from ourselves
3. Morality as personal growth – concerned on mostly
only on mostly on the rights and wrongs of the certain
action but these were able to change on the person
which can either be growth or regrets of the person.
- Language of moral conversion
4. Morality as love – we are primarily relational beings.
We exist in relation to one another.
- Highlights the other as contemporary philosophy
that suggests that moral experience is the
experience of the other.
5. Morality as social transformation – focus on
interpersonal relationship between us and other people.
(table of differences the ethics and morality is written by
James Gustavson in 1974)
ETHICAL RELATIVISM (Moral Relativism)
- Edward Alexander Westermarck (1974)
- A school of ethics anchored on the principle that
morality is relative to the norms of a particular
culture or society
ETHICAL PRAGMATISM
- Charles Sanders Peirce and William James
- Established human needs and the practical
interests of humans as the basis for judgement and
evaluation.
ETHICAL UTILITARIANISM
- Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
- The rightness and wrongness of the action is
determined by their consequences
KANTIAN ETHICS
- Immanuel Kant
- The rightness or wrongness of actions does not
depend on their consequences but on whether they
fulfill our duty,
MORAL ISSUES
1. Abortion – the ending of a pregnancy by removal or
expulsion of and embryo or fetus before it can
survive outside of the uterus
- Can either be induced or spontaneous abortion
- Miscarriage is also known as spontaneous abortion
- Types of spontaneous abortion:
→ Threatened – abdominal pain or bleeding in the
first 20 weeks of gestation
- cervical OS: Closed
- Passage of Fetal Tissue: None
→ Inevitable – abdominal pain or bleeding in the first
20 weeks of gestation
- COS: open
- PFT: none
→ Incomplete – Abdominal pain or bleeding in the
first 20 weeks of gestation
- COS: open
- PFT: yes (some products of conception still
remain in uterus)
→ Complete – abdominal pain or bleeding in the first
20 weeks of gestation
- COS: closed
- PFT: complete
→ Septic – infection of uterus during miscarriage,
fever and chills. Usually due to staph. Aureus
- COS: open with purulent cervical discharge and
uterine tenderness
- PFT: none or may be incomplete
- safe abortions protect women’s and girl’s health and
human rights.
- Laws and policies should:
→ Ensure that every woman who is legally eligible
has access to timely and safe abortion care
→ Facilitate the provision of high-quality
contraceptive information and services
→ Meet all women’s sexual and reproductive health
needs
- 25 million unsafe abortions take place each year
worldwide
- 1 out of 3 unsafe abortions occur in the worst
conditions (untrained persons using dangerous
methods)
- Prevent unsafe abortion through:
→ Comprehensive sexuality education
→ Access to affordable contraception
→ Safe abortion care
- Safe abortion must be provided / supported by a
trained person, using:
→ Tablets or a surgical procedure in a health facility
2. EUTHANASIA (mercy killing)
- The practice of ending life intentionally
- Types:
→ Active euthanasia – when death is brought about
by an act
→ Passive euthanasia – when death is brought by an
omission
→ Voluntary euthanasia – when an individual gives
consent to subject himself to painless death
→ Non-voluntary – conducted when the permission
of the patient to perform the process is unavailable
→ Involuntary euthanasia – occurs when the person
who dies chooses life but is killed anyway
→ Indirect euthanasia – providing treatment that has
the side effect of speeding death
→ Assisted suicide – when a person who is going to
die needs help to kill themselves and asks for it.
“One act can embrace two effects – an intended good and
unintended bad.”
– the doctrine of double effect.
3. GENETIC ENGINEERING – the manipulation of a
single trait in an organism to create a desired
change
 HUMAN EXISTENCE AND ETHICS MLS 101: PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
MR. ARTURO MARCLINO JR. Transcriber: AP/ 09152022

- Artificially copying of a piece of DNA from one

organism and joining this copy of DNA into the DNA of
another organism
- Genetic screening – a procedure whose main purpose
is to screen, choose and select the genes for proper
detection of any genetic disease and other
chromosomal malformations
- Gene intervention – are techniques such as genetic
control, therapy and surgery that would imply
intervention and control in the biological process
→ Amniocentesis – needle used to withdraw foetal
cells from aminiotic fluid
→ Chorionic Villi Sampling – suction tube used to
remove foetal cells from chorion (where placenta
will develop)

4. STEM CELL THERAPY – a form of genetic

engineering that makes use of stem cells to treat or
prevent disease.
- Stages:
1. Stem cells moved from bone marrow to blood
stream using chemotherapy and synthetic growth
factor
2. Machine collects blood and separates out stem
cells
3. Stem cells frozen ready to return to body later.
4. More chemotherapy used to fully or partially wipe
out bone marrow and immune system
5. Stem cells returned to body using a drip
6. Body recovers over a period of 3-6 months,
sometimes longer.
- Types:
→ Totipotent stem cells
→ Pluripotent stem cells
→ Multipotent stem cells
5. IN VITRO FERTILIZATION – also known as
laboratory fertilization, a deviation from the natural
process of fertilization

CODE OF ETHICS – serves as a guiding principle in the

ethical practice of profession
- Guides individuals in dealing with issues and conflicts
in the workplace

10 GOLDEN RULES TO BEING PROFESSIONAL IN

SERVICE
1. Always strive for excellence
2. Be trustworthy
3. Be accountable
4. Be courteous and respectful
5. Be honest, open, and transparent
6. Be competent and improve continually
7. Always be ethical
8. Always be honorable and act with integrity
9. Be respectful of confidentiality
10. Set good examples