BIOETHICS
CU1: INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS
ETHICS
➢ A Practical science of morality of human conduct
that implies direction
➢ The discipline concerned with what is morally
good and bad and morally right and wrong.
SCIENCE
➢ Deals with complete and systematic body of
factual and empirical data and reasoning.
MORAL
➢ Dictates of reason on how things should be.
HUMAN CONDUCT
➢ Deliberate, free and how one person should act.
o Moral issues deals with respect for life, freedom,
love, issues that provokes conscience; issues that
responds to ought, should, right, wrong, good,
bad and complicate.
o In philosophical influence, they stem from
happenings since the ancient times until the
contemporary period.
o Morality is a personal sense of right or wrong.
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
ETHICS
➢ Concerns the needs and values of human
persons in all matters of human concern
including health; nothing is more human and
personal than health.
BIOETHICS
➢ A science that deals with the study of the
morality of human conduct concerning human
life in all its aspects from the moment of its
conception to its natural end.
HEALTHCARE ETHICS
➢ Is the field of applied ethics that is concerned
with the wide array of moral decision-making
situations that relates to human health.
THE HUMAN BEING:
THE PERSON
➢ (Biblical) Created in the image and likeness of
God; differing from animals due to possession of
spiritual intelligence and free will.
➢ God produces the human body through the
cooperation of human parents; the creation of
the human soul is direct act of God.
➢ Each person is unique and irreplaceable; and are
called not only to maturity but to eternal life.
HUMAN ACTS
➢ Is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free
will of man. Man knows what he is doing and
freely chooses to do what he does;
➢ Not all acts are Human Acts; for an act to be
human it must have:
- Knowledge
- Freedom
- Voluntariness
KNOWLEDGE
➢ Of what it is about and what it means.
➢ Facts, information, and skills acquired by a
person through experience or education; the
theoretical or practical understanding of a
subject:
➢ Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of
a fact or situation.
- Ex: What will I do?
- Why do I have to do it?
FREEDOM
➢ 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,

➢ Spiritual discernment;
➢ Capacity to make practical judgement in matters
involving ethical issues;
➢ The person’s most secret sanctuary where
he/she is alone with God;
➢ ”The more a correct conscience prevails the
more do persons and groups turn aside from
blind choice and try to be guided by the objective
standards of moral conduct“
- Ex. Natural law
- Civil Law
- Code of Ethics
ACTS OF MAN
➢ Actions beyond one’s consciousness;
dependent on the intellect and will
➢ Essential qualities of Acts of Man
o Done without knowledge
o Without consent
o Involuntary
- Ex. Unconscious
ETHICAL PHILOSOPHERS
IMMANUEL KANT
➢ (1724-1804)
➢ A German philosopher
➢ An opponent of utilitarianism.
KANT’S DEONTOLOGICAL MORAL THEORY:
➢ Act done in accord with duty and act done from
a sense of duty.
➢ Categorical Imperative.
- Ex: Performing nursing functions out of
the desire to do so or out of fear of being
accused of negligence.
JOHN BORDLEY RAWL
➢ Born: February 21, 1921
➢ An American moral and political philosopher.
➢ Professorship at Harvard University, University of
Oxford.
➢ His magnum opus, A Theory of Justice (1971).
John Rawls was the most important political
philosopher of the 20th century.
JOHN RAWL’S 2 PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE
1. Each person has equal basic human rights and
liberties of citizenship.
2. Social and economic inequalities are acceptable
only if they benefit the least advantaged
members of the society.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
➢ Born 1225; Sicily, Italy
➢ Proclaimed Doctor of the Catholic Church
➢ Joined the Dominican Order (Order of Preachers
– OP)
not
➢ Patron Saint of Universities and Scholars
➢ Thomas's ethics - "first principles of action.“
➢ Summa theologiae, he wrote:
o Virtue denotes a certain perfection of a
power;
o Now a thing's perfection is considered
chiefly in regard to its end.
ST. THOMAS’S FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES
• Prudence
• Temperance
• Fortitude
• Justice
AQUINAS’ ETHICS
➢ “Do good, avoid evil”
➢ the inherent capacity of every individual, lettered
or unlettered to distinguish the good from the
bad through reason and reflection (syndresis).
➢ Double effect principles - situation in which a
good and evil effect will result.
➢ Principle of totality.
THREE DETERMINANTS OF MORAL ACTION:
1. Object - The will intends
2. Circumstances - May mitigate or aggravate
3. End of the agent – Purpose
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WILLIAM DAVID ROSS
➢ Born: April 15, 1877; Thurso, Scotland
➢ Scottish philosopher
THE PRIMA FACIE DUTIES OR MORAL GUIDELINES
➢ According to W. D. Ross (1877-1971), there are
several prima facie duties that we can use to
determine what, concretely, we ought to do.
➢ A prima facie duty is a duty that is binding
(obligatory).
➢ "Unless stronger moral considerations outweigh,
one ought to keep a promise made."
THE PRIMA FACIE DUTIES INCLUDES:
• Fidelity
• Reparation
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-Improvement
• Non- maleficence
CU2: THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF
HEALTH CARE ETHICS
➢ Moral philosophy is the branch of philosophy
that examines beliefs and assumptions about
certain human values.
➢ Ethics is the practical application of moral
philosophy; that is, given the moral context of
good or bad, right or wrong, “What should I do in
this situation?”
➢ The philosopher reveals an integrated global
vision in which elements, like pieces of a puzzle,
have a logical fit.
DEONTOLOGY
➢ Rationalist view that the rightness or wrongness
of an act depends upon the nature of the act
rather than the consequences that occur as a
result of it.
➢ A person’s action is wrong, without exception, if
it violates these rules.
UTILITARIANISM
➢ Right action is that which has the greatest utility
and no action is in itself either good or bad.
➢ “The end justifies the means”- sometimes it is
possible to do wrong to achieve “right”.
➢ The only right action are those that produce the
greatest happiness to all concerned.
CONSEQUENTIALISM/TELEOLOGY
➢ Consequentialist moral theories evaluate the
morality of actions in terms of progress toward a
goal or end. The consequences of the action are
what matter, not their intent.
➢ Sometimes called teleology, using the Greek
term telos, which refers to “ends.” Thus, one
finds that the goal of consequentialism is often
stated as the greatest good for the greatest
number.
VIRTUE ETHICS IN NURSING
- Virtue ethics, sometimes called character ethics,
represents the idea that individuals’ actions are
based upon a certain degree of innate moral
virtue.
FOUR FOCAL VIRTUES THAT ARE MORE PIVOTAL THAN
OTHERS IN CHARACTERIZING A VIRTUOUS PERSON:
1. Compassion
2. Discernment
3. Trustworthiness
4. Integrity
- The Nightingale Pledge, composed by Lystra
Gretter in 1893 and traditionally recited by
graduating nurses, implies virtue of character as
nurses promise purity, faith, loyalty, devotion,
trustworthiness, and temperance. It is
reasonable to say that good character is the
cornerstone of good nursing, and that the nurse
with virtue will act according to principle.
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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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