Medical Ethics1
Medical Ethics ? Bioethics comprise every possible aspect of health care, medical, moral, social, political, religious, legal and financial? (Weiss 3). This includes the questions raised by new research. It takes a look at the results of that research that is used on patients. It takes into consideration contemporary ideas of personal freedom and human dignity. It deals with growth in medical services available in the United States and the sky rocketing cost. Bioethics also deals with the medical advances in technology that has reshaped traditional medical ethics. Medical ethics have changed drastically over a period of years. From old commandments to new commandments, guidelines that provide structural framework, classic experiments that challenge that framework, or even how things are defined in medical ethics. ?Medical progress goes on, and the perils of progress must be heeded? (Leone 165). Changing times have in turn changed our codes of ethics. There are five old commandments of ethics and five new commandments of ethics. These commandments come from many years of heavily advised dictates from various people. A commandment by definition is, ? ... a dictate or a strongly advised piece of advice? (Halsey 201). The first tr
Works Consulted Collin, Mary A. Medical Terminology and the Body Systems. Virginia : Harper and Row, Publisher?s Inc., 1974. Du Gas, Beverly W. Introduction to Patient Care a Comprehensive Approach to Nursing. Philadelphia : W.B. Sanders Company, 1977. Halsey, William D. ? commandment ? Collier?s Dictionary. 1986 ed. Hudak, Carolyn M. and Barbara M. Gallo. Critical Care Nursing: Philidelphia : J.B. Lippincott Company, 1977. Jones, Eva., R.N. Personal Interview. 18 November 1997. ?Medical Ethics.? Infopedia. Microsoft Works. U.S.A. : Future Vision,1995. CD-ROM. Leone, Bruno., ed. Ethics. San Diego : Greenhaven Press Inc., 1995. Levine, Howard. Life Choices. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1986. Madsen, Peter., ed. Essentials of Government Ethics. New York : Meridian, 1992. McKenzie, Nancy F., ed. The Crisis in Health Care. United States : Meridian, 1990. Rothstein, William G. ? The Medical Profession.? Encyclopedia of American Social History. 1993 ed. Singer, Peter. Rethinking Life and Death: The Collapse of our Traditional Ethics. New York : St. Martin?s Press, 1994. Wagman, Richard J., M.D., F.A.C.P., ed. ?Surgery.? The Medical and Health Encyclopedia. 1992 ed. Wall, James M. ? A Time to be Born.? The Christian Century . 14 May 997: 467-468. Weiss, Ann E. Bioethics; Dilemmas in Modern Medicine. Hillside: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1985. aditional commandment is, ? Treat all human life as of equal worth? (Singer 190). This statement is very difficult to follow; almost no person believes this statement whole-heartedly. The statement makes more sense on paper or just being heard, but its application in life is almost impossible to ensure. In comparison to the first old ethic, the first new ethic states, ?Recognize that the worth of human life varies? (Singer 190). This statement allows for variation and livability in society. It gives way for someone to say, if a person is a vegetable, has no vital capabilities, this person?s life is of no worth anymore. Without this sort of change in today?s advancing civilization, it would make it ethically wrong to ?pull the plug? (Rothstein 1698.) The next commandment of old ethics is, ? Never intentionally take innocent human life? (Singer 192). If a doctor or any health care professional just stood by during the birth of a child and both the child and the mother were dying, how could that doctor stand there and watch both the mother and the infant die without taking some method of action. However, if that physician were to save either patient while sacrificing the life of the other, that health care professional would be considered unethical and scorned by the standard of this ethical commandment. In comparison, the new commandment states, ?Take responsibility for the consequences of your decisions?(Singer 195). By the token of this declaration a physician can make a choice based on his/her best judgment, yet; be held accountable for their actions. This gives a doctor the power to use his/her best judgment and knowledgeable skills, to do what they believe is best for the patient. This statement allows for a person?s right to free will, even a person who is a Christian may more fully agree with this statement just for the pure reason that they want to believe more in God?s promise of free will in their life. Commandment number four states,? Be fruitful and multiply? (Singer 198). This biblical injunction has been a part of Christian ethics for thousands of years. ? Augustine said that sexual intercourse without procreation ` turns the bridal chamber into a brothel?? (Singer 198). Some laws in America concerning contraceptives survived until the mid- 1960?s when the Supreme Court declared them invasion of privacy (Madsen 325). The revised commandment number four, ?Bring children into the world only if they are wanted? (Singer 199), allows for population control as well as prevention of children who were never wanted and not loved. From 1930 when the population was two billion to today where t
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Approximate Word count = 2919
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)
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