Justice and Distributive Principles

Justice

• Two types: General legal justice and Particular justice
• General legal justice involves equity and common legal justice referring to a human person's actions in alignment with the common good.
• Particular justice includes commutative justice and distributive justice, focusing on the individual's rights and the fairness of exchanges.
• Commutative justice: Fairness in exchanges between individuals.
• Distributive justice: Sharing the wealth of a nation.

Principles of Distributive Justice

• An equal share for everyone
• According to individual need
• Based on acquisition in a free market
• Based on individual effort
• Based on societal contribution
• Based on merit
• Implementation depends on available funds and resources.

Communitarianism

• Emphasizes an individual's relationship with their community.
• Individuals are responsible for their actions within the community.
• Individual rights are linked to communal responsibility.
• Communal good outweighs individual good.
• Balance is crucial between individual and community welfare.
• Solutions require collaborative community deliberation.
• Applied to healthcare by promoting non-maleficence and considering communal values in decision-making.
• Example: A nurse lacking expertise pretending to be skilled, potentially harming a patient, breaches non-maleficence principles.

Beneficence

• Requires nurses to abstain from harming patients and prioritize their well-being.
• Promoting good deeds, kindness, and charity to others.
• Taking actions that promote the welfare of other people.
• Associated with virtues like kindness, benevolence, altruism, and humanitarianism.
• Involves addressing the psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of illness.
• Example: Helping a patient with daily living activities when they are too weak.

Elements and Components of Beneficence

• Substance of the Principle of Beneficence:
  • Not inflicting harm.
  • Preventing harm.
  • Removing harm.
  • Promoting good.
• Major Components of Beneficence:
  • Do or promote good.
  • Prevent harm.
  • Remove evil or harm.

Justice

• Derived from the Latin word jus meaning right.
• Rendering what is due or merited.
• Enables giving every individual their rights.
• Associated with fairness, rightfulness, rewards, punishment, and equity.
• Requires fair distribution of social benefits (like healthcare) and burdens (like taxes).
• Implies nurses providing care without regard to race, color, creed, social status, or gender.
• Example: Smoking bans.

Casuistry

• Case-based reasoning.
• Circumstances surrounding a person's health serve as building blocks for case analysis.
• Resolved cases serve as paradigms for analogical considerations.
• Example: Physicians and family members of a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) patient use casuistry to guide decision-making.

Conditions for Resolving a Situation Through Casuistry:

• Choosing one principle over another.
• The moral purpose must be attainable.
• No possibility of giving preference to conflicting prima facie duties.
• The opted solution must minimize infringement.
• The minimal effect of infringement should be undertaken seriously.

Examples of Conflicts Between Ethical Principles:

• Respect for autonomy (patient's decisions) vs. non-maleficence (do no harm).
• Beneficence (helping people) vs. justice (treating similar cases fairly).

Question and Answer

• Question: A 5-year-old girl comes to the clinic for scheduled immunizations. You are aware that the procedure will cause discomfort, but the benefits are greater for the child and the community. Which principle is involved in this situation?
• Answer: Beneficence.