MEDICAL ETHICS // INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS

Intro to Bioethics | Dr. Acevedo

Transcribed by: Trix and Gab

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Schedule for Bioethics

Orientation
Introduction to Bioethics
Human Person, Human Acts, Conscience
History of Bioethics, Hippocratic Oath
Medical Oaths and Societies
Foundations of Ethics
Ethical Decision Making
Christian and Basic Bioethical Principles

3.01
Nov. 15, 2013

Media
o Some people add intrigues and tsismis to the
truth thats why they sometimes may not be
reliable
Any human behavior performed under or with
KNOWLEDGE, FREEDOM, & VOLUNTARINESS
is within the ambit of moral and ethical judgment.
As a doctor, lahat ng decision mo ay based on
these three things.

Methods of learning:
Lectures
Recitation/discussion
Brainstorming

Why study ethics?

Controversies and problems in any professional
discipline will always involve ethics because it
has something to do with VALUES

Evaluation:
Quiz
Recitation

INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS
Personal values of person, view on abortion and
euthanasia
Interpersonal intrigues, sex transfers, organ
transplants
Professional rivalries among professionals (ex:
stealing of clients/patients)
Institutional different hospital policies (ex: public
hospitals cannot deny patients, but in some private
hospitals, they ask first for down payment before they
accept the patient)
Social issues population issue (RH Bill), control of
AIDS

MODERN SOCIETY
It alters our view of the world by radically destroying
values
Before: abortion (murder of innocent life)
Now: reproductive rights, womens sexual freedom,
betray the sanctity and dignity of human life
Before, abortion is a big deal because everyone gives
importance to life. Now, abortion is common and
already legal to almost all countries.
What is legal is not always moral!
Instruments used by modern society to alter our view of
the world:
Politics
o So influential!
o Kapag sila nagsasabi, daming naniniwala at
sumusunod
o Fortunately, the educated people dont
always follow them.
o But the question is, who are the educated
people? What do you think?
Science
o Our environment have been affected because
of the advanced technology
o Ex: global warming
Economics
o Now, before the doctors treat the patient, they
think first if the patient can pay. Tsktsk!
Technology
o Ex: Stem cell therapy at first stages, this is
safe and okay, but during the latter stages,
there will already be changes in anatomy and
physiology of the person which is very risky.

Medical practitioners also have to make everyday

decisions:
Should you tell your patient about their disease?
What treatment patient should consent or refuse to?
What patient should be prioritized in case of
scarce resources? For example, there are 5 patients
who needs to be admitted in the ICU but only 2
beds are available, who will you prioritize?
How much of the societys fund be spent on
health care, etc?
A progressive nation should be a healthy nation.
What to do:
Educate/train our conscience or sense of judgment
We must be educated in virtue so that we can act
with ease, competence and confidence
Equipped with scientific knowledge and skills
Know human needs and human values
Study human acts
o Ethics is concerned and interested in human
behaviors, subject to the determination of
right (virtue) and wrong (vice)
Study modern biological technology
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MEDICAL ETHICS // INTRODUCTION TO BIOETHICS

As a medical professional, be sensitive to the
different variables in your environment:
o Social
o Economic
o Institutional
o Political climate
o Patient and family values
o Relationships
o Religious beliefs
o Cultural orientation
o Legal constraints

DILEMMAS OF A MODERN MEDICAL

PROFESSIONAL
Right for a woman to have abortion
Children with serious birth defects be put to death?
Physicians lie to their patient
Sex change
Contraceptive

Why do we have legal problems?

Because there is MALPRACTICE due to:
o Negligence
o Ignorance
o Arrogant doctors
o Objective to get rich faster
A good physician is an ethical physician.
(likely to avoid legal problem)
A legal problem always begins with an ethical
problem
A doctor without ethics is a mere technician. A doctor
with ethics is properly called a physician.
(Doctors must be grounded in bioethics because they
handle life.)
BASIC PRINCIPLES MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
MUST KNOW IN THE PRACTICE OF THE
MEDICAL PROFESSION
The care of the patient
Alleviate pain and cure the disease
Safeguard the patients life and health

RATIONALE IN THE STUDY OF BIOETHICS

To address perennial ethical problems
To address legal problems in health care
FUNDAMENTALS IN BIOETHICS
2 branches of Bioethics:
Knowledge attentive to critical examination of
assumptions about matters of fact and argument
Practice focuses on the critical examination of
assumptions about norms or values
ETHICS
Moral philosophy
Greek: ethika character; ethos behavior
Latin: moris/mor moral, morality
Study of social morality and philosophical
reflection on its norms and practices (basic human
behaviors that are specifically and inherently
human)
As a science: deals with the study of morality
(rightness or wrongness)
As a discipline: meant for the exercise of human
conduct that is good or evil
As a philosophical study: guides both the
speculative and practical intellect in the
acquisition and application of ethical principles in
concrete human conduct (moral duty and
obligation)
Based on reason which studies human acts and
provides norms for their goodness or badness
Deals only with human acts insofar as they are
performed with intellectual deliberation and
volition
MEDICAL ETHICS
Concerned with value choices in medical practice
BIOETHICS
A more recent discipline
An outgrowth of philosophy focusing on man as
the center of reality and of human life
It is a philosophy of life

Solutions for dilemmas created by these basic objectives

can be guided by the application of the different ethical
principles.
PURPOSE AND IMPLICATIONS OF
BIOETHICAL KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge gained in the study and applications of
Bioethics will contribute substantially to the holistic
care of patient.
Those who are found outstanding, effective and
efficient in the care of patients are those who are both
technical and ethical in ethos and praxis.
It is important not only to put right order and direction to
the practice of an ethical profession, but also to
recognize the societys awareness of its significance.
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