Introduction to Ethics - HEP 332

• The lecture is about Introduction to Ethics, for course HEP 332, semester 2, for the academic year 2024/2025

Lesson objectives

• To identify the meaning of ethics and bioethics
• To understand the importance of ethics
• To identify the divisions of ethics

Ethics Defined

• Ethics are the system of noble principles that govern the conduct of a person or group.
• Human actions are judged as right or wrong, according to these principles

Why Study Ethics?

• Ethics helps answer three major questions frequently encountered in healthcare:
• Deciding what should be done.
• Explaining why it should be done.
• Describing how it should be done.

Divisions of Ethics

• Ethics is commonly divided into three categories.
• These are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.

Meta-ethics

• Meta-ethics is the study of the nature of ethics.
• Meta-ethics focuses on the meaning and objectivity of moral concepts, rather than addressing specific questions, and instead deals with moral thought and moral language.
• An example meta-ethical question is: "Is abortion an acceptable action?"

Normative Ethics

• Normative ethics involves the study of ethical action itself, and is concerned with examining the rightness of actions.
• An example of a normative ethics question is: "Is abortion acceptable when the mother's health is at risk?"

Applied Ethics

• Applied ethics defines how to apply moral standards in various practical fields, and is the application of both meta-ethics and normative ethics in a particular issue.

Bioethics

• Bioethics is the study of ethical, social, and legal issues arising in biomedicine and biomedical research.
• Bioethics commonly refers to the ethical implications and applications of health-related life sciences.

Bioethics Topics

• Bioethics includes fields like clinical ethics, research ethics, public health ethics, and Islamic bioethics.

Clinical Ethics

• Clinical ethics is the branch of bioethics related to the identification, analysis, and resolution of moral issues that arise in the healthcare of individual patients.
• Clinical ethics helps in the following ways:
• It helps to identify and clarify ethical questions.
• It assists in finding ethically acceptable courses of action.
• It encourages honest and respectful communication between all parties involved.
• It recommends ethically acceptable solutions for the case at hand.

Research Ethics

• Research ethics involves identifying, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues encountered before, during, and/or after health-related research, predominantly on humans (or animals).
• Research ethics is important for research involving the collection and further processing of biological samples and/or identifiable information.

Public Health Ethics

• Public health ethics is the branch of ethics related to identifying, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues encountered in the conduct of public health interventions and/or research on a large-scale population.

Islamic Bioethics

• Islamic bioethics is a methodology for defining, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues in healthcare practice or research based on Islamic moral and legislative sources.
• It is aimed at achieving the goals of Islamic morality, focusing on the preservation of human religion, soul, mind, wealth, and progeny.

Sources of Healthcare Professional Ethics (Islamic)

• Islamic sources include:
• The Quran
• Sunnah
• Ijtihad

Other Sources of Healthcare Professional Ethics

• What people have agreed on as good manners, which may vary from one community to another
• What has been gained from other cultures, provided it does not contradict the Islamic Sharia
• Scientific research and the rules upon which the profession is established

Medical Profession Ethics and Regulations

• Professional ethics outlines guidelines derived from values and principles, concerning proper conduct when practicing one's profession.
• Professional regulations are the rules and legislations that regulate the practice of healthcare professionals.
• It clarifies what should be done by the practitioner
• Professional regulations must be rooted and based on professional ethics.
• The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties is an example.

An introductory lecture to ethics, including the meaning of ethics and bioethics and the importance of ethics. It identifies the three divisions of ethics: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. This material is for course HEP 332, semester 2, for the academic year 2024/2025.