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Bioethics: Core Principles
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Proportionality
Proportionality in bioethics means that the benefits of healthcare interventions should be proportional to the risks involved. Decision-making requires careful assessment of this balance, often within the context of quality of life judgments.
Shared Decision Making
Shared Decision Making is a collaborative process where patients and providers make healthcare decisions together, based on clinical evidence and the patient's values and preferences. This upholds patient autonomy and leads to more personalized care.
Vulnerability
Vulnerability acknowledges that some patient groups may have an increased susceptibility to harm or coercion and may require additional protections in healthcare. Ethical practice involves identifying and supporting these individuals or groups to ensure equitable care.
Autonomy
Autonomy in bioethics refers to the right of patients to make informed decisions about their own healthcare. Ethical considerations include respecting individual freedoms and personal choices, garnering informed consent, and empowering patients to act on their healthcare preferences without coercion.
Beneficence
Beneficence involves healthcare providers ensuring their actions have the intent of doing good for the patient. This includes providing beneficial treatments and actively preventing harm. Ethical applications require balancing benefits against risks and potential harm in medical interventions.
Double Effect
The principle of Double Effect recognizes that some actions may have both a good and a bad effect. In healthcare, this ethical concept allows for actions that produce a harmful side effect if the intention is to achieve a good outcome and the good outweighs the harm.
Respect for Persons
Respect for Persons combines the principles of autonomy and protection to treat individuals as autonomous agents capable of making their own decisions, while also protecting those with diminished autonomy. It requires that individuals are treated with courtesy and dignity.
Informed Consent
Informed Consent is the process of providing a patient with adequate information regarding medical procedures, allowing for an informed, voluntary decision about healthcare interventions. Relevant information includes risks, benefits, and alternatives.
Fidelity
Fidelity refers to the principle of keeping one's promises and commitments, particularly in terms of professional responsibility and maintaining trust in the healthcare relationship. This involves adhering to professional standards and confidentiality agreements.
Paternalism
Paternalism in bioethics refers to healthcare providers making decisions for patients, with the intent of benefiting them, but without their consent. Ethical considerations involve balancing this against patient autonomy, while recognizing situations where paternalism may be necessary, such as in emergent care or with incapacitated patients.
Futility
Futility concerns the ethical challenge of determining when a medical treatment has no reasonable chance of benefiting the patient. Physicians must balance respect for patient autonomy with the ethics of not administering useless or burdensome interventions.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is the ethical principle that personal health information should be kept private. Healthcare providers must ensure that patient information is disclosed only with consent or when ethically justified, maintaining trust and respecting privacy.
Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence is the principle of 'do no harm,' encouraging healthcare providers to not inflict harm on patients. This involves avoiding treatments with greater risk than benefit and eliminating potential harm when possible. In practice, it requires careful risk assessment and professional competence.
Resource Allocation
Resource Allocation deals with the equitable distribution of limited healthcare resources. Ethical considerations include prioritizing based on need, maximizing benefits, and ensuring fairness, often guided by policies like triage in emergency situations.
Justice
Justice, in the context of bioethics, refers to the fair and equitable distribution of healthcare resources and treatments among individuals. This implies addressing disparities in healthcare access and ensuring that decisions are not influenced by race, religion, gender, or socioeconomic status.
Truth-telling
Truth-telling obligates healthcare providers to be honest with their patients, including the disclosure of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options. It fosters an environment of mutual respect and informed decision-making, supporting the patient's autonomy and trust.
Privacy
Privacy relates to the rights of individuals to keep their personal health information and body away from public scrutiny. Ethical considerations involve upholding individual dignity, autonomy and maintaining confidentiality within healthcare settings.
Cultural Competence
Cultural Competence involves understanding and respecting cultural differences in healthcare. Ethical considerations require healthcare providers to be aware of and sensitive to cultural practices, beliefs, and linguistic needs to deliver effective and respectful care.
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