Ethical Issues in Healthcare and Philosophy

Dilemma

• A dilemma is a situation where a difficult choice must be made between two or more undesirable options.

Ethical Issues in Healthcare

• Ethical issues usually encompass “big” issues in health care.
• Ethical issues include respecting patients and giving them equitable treatment.
• Respecting a patient's right to make treatment decisions is also a crucial aspect.

Ethical Philosophy

• Philosophy examines and analyzes other people's beliefs, values, and criticisms.
• Ethical philosophy helps people determine what is right and wrong in their actions and speech.
• Core components in ethical nursing theories include: the patient, the environment, the patient's health condition, and nurses.

Types of Philosophy (According to Raphael)

• Philosophy of knowledge includes the study of knowledge, reality, logic, science, and the mind.
• The philosophy of practice includes the study of social and political philosophy and legal philosophy.

Types of Ethics and Virtues

• Intellectual ethics are based on knowledge, understanding, and cognitive skills, such as wisdom, intelligence, perseverance, willpower, and determination.
• Active ethics include behaviors and emotions, such as helping others, generosity, kindness, and having positive interactions with others.
• Virtues are learned through family, religion, values, and society.
• Practicing actions, like honesty, courage, respect, compassion, and other virtuous qualities, leads to their development.

Phillipa Foot and Moral Virtues

• Phillipa Foot, a contemporary virtue ethics scholar, added the perspective that a good person not only acts virtuously, but also has the desire to be virtuous with intention.
• For example, generosity involves consciously and willingly donating to others.
• To develop practices such as being studious, one must be willing and dedicated to study.

Moral Motivation

• Moral motivation drives actions and provides the reasoning behind choices.
• Visiting a friend in the hospital is a good action motivated by friendship, love, and loyalty.

Focal Virtues

• Compassion: The ability to put yourself in another person's situation.
• Discernment: Wisdom, sound judgment, and understanding.
• Trustworthiness: Relying on the ability and character of another person.
• Integrity: Reliability, soundness, and consistently following moral norms.

Moral Particularism

• Moral particularism embraces the uniqueness of each case, including culturally significant ethical features and individual ethical judgments.
• Moral particularism utilizes generalizable moral principles in a nuanced way while considering the specificity of each situation.
• The theory uses principles from utilitarianism and deontology as generalizations, rather than absolute rules.
• This theory acknowledges that most moral theories lack sensitivity to the details of each case, such as context, situation, relationships, and individuals.

Conclusion

• While moral theories provide frameworks for ethical decision-making, they are not definitive guidelines to be applied rigidly in every situation.
• Moral particularism emphasizes the importance of individual judgment and adaptation.
• Individuals should use these theories as a foundation for critical thinking and apply them flexibly to specific situations.
• The goal is to make informed ethical decisions while considering all relevant factors, rather than blindly following a single set of rules.