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The data being researched shows that people generally prefer physicians who treat them like a person, by getting to know the patient on a personal, more intimate level rather Han treating them like a number with no significance. We will discuss the definition of medical ethics and its importance to us as a society and as patients. Medical Ethics Is an Important Issue In society and the medical field. Typically medical professionals are expected to behave In an Ideal way In which they are devoted to protecting the welfare of patients.
It is expected that doctors behave begun to act on a patient’s needs without his or her consent or knowledge. According to the American Medical Association, medical ethics is a policy used to “improve tenant care and health of the public by examining and promoting physician professionalism” Remy, 2012). However, some physicians take an action without the patient’s consent and while barely knowing their patients in a personal way. This behavior strays away from what the ideal physician should be and may violate the ideas behind what medical ethics should be.
Medical ethics should be followed because it is there to protect patients’ rights and is a topic that is important to research because it is important in our society because we are trained to trust our actors because we assume they are looking at our best interest as individuals, and patients while that may not be the case. We will be using sources such as the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, the American Medical Association, the Encyclopedia of ethics, and more to answer the following research questions. 1) Is medicine viewed more as a trade or a profession and what are its effects on medical ethics? ) What is involved in medical ethics and what is its importance? 3) Does physician’s assisted suicide violate medical ethics? What is involved in medical ethics and what is its importance? Ethics in medicine is governed by a set of moral guidelines taught to a physician in regards to how they treat their patients. Traditionally ethical codes in medicine revolved around issues such as patient confidentiality, requesting physicians assisted suicide, etc. These codes determined what is ethical and unethical for a doctor to do.
In the Article, Medical Ethics (1998) by William Ruddier, ethics is discussed involving, “codes that prescribe a physician’s character, motives and duties… They portray ideal physicians as devoted to the welfare of patients and to advancement of the medical profession ND medical knowledge” (Para. 4). This shows that when it comes to ethics, physicians are expected to behave in an “ideal” way, where they are expected to follow all of the rules laded out in front of them. It is expected that physicians will follow certain rules, the most important being, “Strive to help, but above all, do no harm” (Ruddier, 1998).
According to this, Ruddier seems to be saying that the most important aspect involved in medical ethics is helping while doing no harm in any way. This notion of doing no harm to patients is an important factor regarding deiced ethics. In the article, Medical Ethics: What is it? And why is it important? (2012) By Day Allseed, he says, “medical care is built on the communication between medical workers on one side and patients and/or patients’ families on another side” (Para. 5). From this quote Allseed is trying to convey they message that a key factor in ethics is communication between the doctor and the patient.
For a doctor to be viewed as being ethically correct, trust has to be established between the doctor and the patient so good communication is vital. Both Ruddier and Allseed suggest hat the doctors have to live up to a certain ethical standard to earn the patients’ trust and ideally doctors would follow these ethical guidelines perfectly. However, since we do not live in an ideal world these ethical guidelines may not be followed to being a profession to more of a trade. Is medicine viewed more as a trade or a profession and what are its effects on medical ethics?
Since the practice of medicine has started, doctors have always been regarded with the utmost respect due to their Jobs being one that is responsible for the care and well being of many lives. In more modern times however, the respect one may get from being a doctor may be dwindling due to a debate as to whether modern medicine is considered to be a trade or a profession. According to Michael Makeover in the article, Doctor of Medicine Profession, a profession involves, “regulation of practice; educational standards for apprentices; fee schedules; and a code of ethics” (Para. ). This very definition of what a profession is includes following a code of ethics or morality. This assumes that for something to be considered as a profession it has to follow a code of ethics. However, in the article Law, ethics and Medical Councils: evolution of their relationships by Mar Jeans, when doctors are accused of being traders rather than professionals, some take it as an insult, while some accept that it is a truth in society today saying things such as, “We are a part of society.
Since it is heavily commercialese, why blame us? ” (Para. 1). Because of this, some doctors accept that centralization and other aspects of their career can make them appear to be traders instead of professionals. Doctors who take offense to being called a trader sometimes plead the case that they cannot be viewed as readers because they are not able to act as a trader. In Jinni’s article, he says, “Earlier, the doctor, while healing the sick, was also compounding drugs and selling them to the patient at a price…
Whenever doctors or hospitals have tried to store drugs for sale to patients, the chemists have protested against this infringement over their occupational territory’ Season, 1995). According to this, the separation of doctors who prescribe medicine for patients and the chemists who make the medicine for patients show that doctors cannot be traders because they are not keeping all of the equines to themselves. In an ideal world all medical professionals would stay on their own area so to speak. This debate over whether doctors are traders or professionals in modern times has a great impact on ethics as well.
Following all rules in regards to patient care would make medicine a profession, while straying from rules may make it seem more like a trade. Depending on the moral code the doctor goes by, ethics could be affected positively or negatively. Both articles, Doctor of Medicine Profession by Michael Makeover and Law, ethics and Medical Councils: evolution of their relationships by Mar Jeans show that medicine can be viewed as either a trade or a profession depending on the ethical value of the doctors and how they choose to act with the responsibility placed upon them.
Does physician’s assisted suicide violate medical ethics? There are some aspects in medicine that have been surrounded in controversy ever since its inception. One of these topics of great ethical debate is the notion of physician’s assisted suicide. The idea of physician’s assisted suicide is revolves around a terminally ill patient asking a doctor for assistance in aiding their death. According to Martin Levin, in the may consider physician’s assisted suicide must have “autonomy to decide the timing and manner of his/her death” (Para 42).
This argument is made with a specific clause that the person choosing death must be competent and aware of his or hers decision. A main reason many people support the idea of physician’s assisted suicide is a sort of mercy argument where the idea is that, “people should be permitted to die with dignity… A person’s last months of life should not be consumed suffering from severe physical pain” (Levin, 2001). This opinion is very subjective and does not purport the idea that physician’s assisted suicide can be unethical since it supports the decision that a competent terminally ill patient wants to make.
Even though physician’s assisted suicide has many supporters, to counter argue some individuals who support physician’s assisted suicide, by removing a subjective mindset and employing a more objective view of what a medical professional is supposed to do. In the article, Physician’s assisted suicide by The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, it is discussed how “The Hippocratic Oath is often invoked against the reality of physician involvement in deaths of patients. That oath declares: “l will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this (Para. ). From this statement, the author is trying to convey the idea that in order for a doctor to be perfectly ethically correct, the doctor would have to stray away from the idea of physician ‘s assisted suicide, as aiding a patient in causing his or hers death violates the oath that is taken to become a physician. Both articles seemingly convey the idea that the ethical view of physician’s assisted suicide is actually very subjective. This is shown in both articles when the reasons supporting and refuting physician’s assisted suicide are mentioned.
In both articles, each view of what is ethically correct is dependent on someone’s personally opinion. To say that physician’s assisted suicide is ethically Just, you have to agree that it is okay to take the life of another person. This idea may seem paradoxical because it is a new convention in the idea of life, which is supposed to be considered to be sacred and never harmed. To do no harm to a patient is in the oath a doctor has to take to come a doctor. However, by allowing a patient to choose his or her death can be considered detrimental to the oath taken to become a doctor.
While probably following the oath to protect a patient’s life no matter what may look as what the ideal physician should do, seeing a patient who is terminally ill, or suffering and allowing them continued suffering may be as ethically unjust as allowing them to choose physician’s assisted suicide. So physician’s assisted suicide can be viewed as both ethical and unethical at the same time, in a sort of “catch 22” mindset, in which there will always be a debate as to whether physician’s assisted suicide is ethical or not.
Objectively, Physician’s assisted suicide should be viewed as unethical, however subjectively it can be viewed as ethical given the right circumstances. This is relatable to the idea of ethical relativism that is discussed in Vincent Ruggeri’s article Why study ethics? (2007) Where he says, “For many, decisions about what is right and wrong are complete personal and completely subjective: what is right for me may not be right for you” (Para. 3). This enforces the idea that one’s ethical belief ay not be completely right for another person.
From this we can see that ethics is in fact very subjective. Term. Ethics is shown to be a code of moral behavior that is expected for ideal physicians to follow. However as we have seen the world is not ideal and because of that, not everyone follows the ethical guidelines that they should. In turn, these different behaviors that ideal doctors are expected to follow but some do not show that in current day medicine can be separated into a profession or a trade. The difference between these two revolve around the ethical standards the doctor hoses to adhere by.