Glossary of Medical Ethics Terms
A
Autonomy
The right of patients to make decisions about their medical care without their healthcare provider trying to influence the decision. Patient autonomy allows healthcare providers to educate the patient but does not allow the healthcare provider to make the decision for the patient.
B
Beneficence
A concept in research ethics stating that researchers should have the welfare of the research participant as a goal of any clinical trial.
Beneficent Deception
Whose best interests are we serving?
Biology vs. Biography
The distinction between biological life (being alive) and biographical life (having a life).
C
Commission vs. Omission
Commission is when a medical professional does something that should not have been done; omission is the failure to do something that should have been done.
Confidentiality
The ethical principle of keeping patient information private.
Consequentialism
The theory that the value and especially the moral value of an act should be judged by the value of its consequences.
D
Deontology
Deontological moral systems are characterized by a focus upon adherence to independent moral rules or duties. To make the correct moral choices, we have to understand what our moral duties are and what correct rules exist to regulate those duties. When we follow our duty, we are behaving morally.
Disability
Any restriction or lack (resulting from an impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.
E
Epistemology
It is concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge. Epistemology has been primarily concerned with propositional knowledge, that is, knowledge that such-and-such is true, rather than other forms of knowledge, for example, knowledge how to such-and-such.
Ethics
Moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior.
I
Informed Consent
A legal procedure to ensure that a patient, client, and research participants are aware of all the potential risks and costs involved.
J
Justice
Giving others what is due to them; it is comprised of a group of norms for the fair distribution of benefits, risks, and costs.
L
Logic
The study of reasoning and argumentation.
M
Macroallocation
‘Macro-allocation’ of healthcare resources involves decisions over the share of a society’s total resources devoted to health and the division of the healthcare budget between different possible uses. Macro-allocation involves questions of distributive justice because healthcare resources are nearly always scarce relative to need. More broadly, ‘macro-allocation’ also refers to policies impacting health, even if not directly intended to do so, such as decisions about unemployment and the environment. Health status is determined only in part by healthcare. Longevity and morbidity vary with various social conditions, including education, economic development, class, and race.
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the nature of the world. It is the study of being or reality. It addresses questions such as: What is the nature of reality? Is there a God? What is man’s place in the universe?
Microallocation
Macroallocation entails decisions that determine the amount of resources available for particular kinds of healthcare services. Macroallocation decisions include how particular health-related institutions such as hospitals or government agencies such as the U.S. National Institutes of Health budget their spending (sometimes referred to as mesoallocation). Macroallocation also encompasses the decisions a nation makes concerning what resources to devote to particular institutions or, more broadly, to high-technology curative medicine as opposed to, for example, research or primary and preventive care. The extent to which health is fostered through medical care as opposed to nonmedical interventions such as environmental regulation is also a matter of macroallocation, as is the amount of money, time, and energy a society allocates to the pursuit of health rather than to education, defense, and other activities.
Moral Status
Refer to a right not to be killed or made to suffer, or to a general moral requirement to be treated in a certain way.
N
Non-Maleficence
Non-maleficence means to “do no harm.” Physicians must refrain from providing ineffective treatments or acting with malice toward patients. This principle, however, offers little useful guidance to physicians since many beneficial therapies also have serious risks. The pertinent ethical issue is whether the benefits outweigh the burdens.
P
Paternalism
Medical paternalism is commonly understood to indicate a physician’s telling patients what is good for them without regard to the patient’s own needs and interests.
Premise
A proposition upon which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn.
R
Rights
Moral or legal entitlements to be treated in a certain way.
Rule of Rescue
This so-called ‘rule’ is often proposed as an alternative (or supplement) to a cost-effectiveness criterion for selecting which treatments ought to be made available and to whom. The rule of rescue reflects, in a general sense, a concern that many people have for those facing the immediate prospect of death (or something else regarded as pretty awful) and, in economic terms, it might be seen as a way of describing a caring externality.
T
Telos
The goal or purpose of a thing, its function or potential.
U
Utilitarianism
Considers the balance of benefits and harms where the outcome may justify the action (ends justify the means).
V
Veracity
Veracity is the principle of truth-telling and is grounded in respect for persons and the concept of autonomy.
Virtue Ethics
Virtue ethics emphasizes the role of one’s character and the virtues that one’s character embodies for determining or evaluating ethical behavior.