Running head: GOOD AND THE HUMAN LIFE

Good and the human life

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Good and the human life

Good
When one speaks of the word good, it means that every individual can distinguish between
what is right and what is wrong. In the human dichotomy, there is quite a great tag of war in
mans psychology, because in the human mind is where the workshop is. One can decide to do
what is right or evil. Some right behaviors become done by people out of conscious mind, and
wrong behaviors get done by man out of unconscious mind. Therefore, we should not take it
simply that everyone here on earth is good virtues and morals. Morality and good are two
distinct terms but sensibly they almost mean the same thing in life. Being moral is doing what
people consider the right thing but as per the term good it simply means the avoidance of wrong
deeds. According to the ethical principle of beneficence and nonmaleficence, nurses are any
other medical practitioner should always work on ensuring that all their actions are to the best
interest of their patients (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001). The practice of doing well can be
related with to the acts that enhance fairness and justice for all the involved individuals. Good is,
therefore, more complex in life and entails a great deal of legal and ethical issues in the human
life.
Good and human value
Good plays a major role in enhancing human in many aspects. According the American Nurses
Association, (2010), medical practitioners have more possessed more knowledge on the right or
wrong for the patients they treat. Patients in any health care facility have the right to make any
decision pertaining their health and the treatment approaches that can get applied to them.
Legally, according the codes of conduct, patients have the right to autonomy. When their
decisions compromise their decision on the good of their life, nurses should always look at the

Good and the human life

right action that will enhance their life (ANA, 2010). Through the codes of ethics, nurses are
expected to treat their patients while ensuring that decision they make accord the highest value
on the best interest of their patients.
Another way in which good can enhance human life is the issue of embryo stem cells. Any
growth in the scientific field and technology that not based on the values of man is always futile.
Protection of human life is a legal and ethical thing for any individual whether a health worker or
any other person involved in handling another persons life. According to Taylor (2015), it is
morally and legally right to protect any persons life that is at stake. Human life begins from the
moment where the process of fertilization comes to an end. It is, therefore, true that the embryo
need the same protection as the fully grown person (Taylor, 2015). The essential of being good is
acknowledging that life is sacred and should be protected. When scientists intention to develop
the embryonic stem cell for use in things likes research, it becomes evil to the people and a
violation of human right. Morally this might be good since they may be able to develop a new
way of treatment for some chronic diseases but as far as goodness is concerned, the practice is
futile.
Despite the role played by the value of good in enhancing and protecting human life, some
human aspects of being good always make good not to enhance the value of human life
(William, 1974). The human enhancement will always become practiced with short-term selfish
and reckless. The decisions also ignore the long-run consequences on individuals and the society
at large (Arneson, 1999). Issues like enhancing strength, life expectancy, and longevity have a
large positional component about good (William, 1974). The practices that most people do and
intend to do to achieve these goals may be moral or right to many but not ethically good
according to human values. The use of drugs, body transplants and other clinical or personal

Good and the human life

practices may be evil but morally right and at the same contradict with what is good (Arneson,
1999).
It is, therefore, evident that despite that good may prevent people from enjoying their freedom or
may act as a preventive measure to development and advancement, it plays a major role in
enhancing human life.
Good and the issue of suffering
Pain can closely become linked or connected with things like a threat, harm or other unpleasant
life events. The events can be internally generated or externally or through a third or second
person. People suffer from emotional, mental and psychological pain. Mental pain can advance
to physical pain especially where the person become placed in the same situation for a long time.
Psychological pain can advance through internal sources like hunger, agony, dissatisfaction and
other factors. Controlling or reducing these kinds of pains can be a difficult task but with a
morally upright society the issue is minor. Legal laws are set to provide a rationale for doing
what is morally good and avoiding harm to others and oneself.
Good reduces suffering and pain for people who have suffered from any act that has had a
negative effect on their life when and only when the person responsible get apprehended and
prosecuted. From a legal perspective, being good or doing anything that is morally good is an
essential factor in the courts of justice (Wales & Ray, 2010). Good helps in reducing pain for
those who have been affected by an act through justice enhancement. A plaintiff in any
circumstance of injustice receives relieve or rather reduce suffering from an evil act through the
fair and just trial of the offender in a court of law (Galon & Winerman, 2010). When a patient

Good and the human life

passes through pain due to the acts of the nurse the agony and pain suffered can be reduced
through punitive acts for the nurse involved only through the rightful and legal channels.
When people do good, their acts always avoid harm to other related people. Through good,
people will always avoid evil or wrongful acts that have negative effects on them and the society
at large.
Good that is the act of doing what is moral; legally right and acceptable is an important aspect
that has both positive impacts on human life and pain reduction. It is, therefore, evident from the
paper that pain can greatly become reduced to being good. Legal structures, professional ethics
and societal respect and adherence to the law are essential for the enhancement of good. Good
plays a major role in enhancing the value of human life and reducing pain for both ordinary
people and patients in hospitals.

Good and the human life

References
American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing's social policy statement: The essence of the
profession. Nursesbooks. org.
Arneson, J.R. (1999), Human Flourishing Versus desire Satisfaction: Social philosophy and
policy 16(1) 1-48.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2001). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University
Press, UK.
Galon, P. A., & Wineman, N. M. (2010). Coercion and procedural justice in psychiatric care:
State of the science and implications for nursing. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 24(5),
121-316.
Taylor, P. L. (2005). The gap between law and ethics in human embryonic stem cell research:
overcoming the effect of US federal policy on research advances and public benefit.
Science and engineering ethics, 11(4), 589-616.
Wales, H. W., Hiday, V. A., & Ray, B. (2010). Procedural justice and the mental health court
judge's role in reducing recidivism. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 33(4),
145-271.
Williams, B. (1973) The Markopoulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality, in his
Problems of the Self. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.