Ethics & Law
Four pillars (values)
A common framework used when analysing medical ethics is the "four principles" approach postulated by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in their textbook Principles of Biomedical Ethics.
Autonomy
Beneficence
Non-maleficence
Equity
Autonomy & equity are duty-based ethical principles. Beneficence and non-maleficence are consequentialist approaches.
BMA ethical framework
Recognise ethical dilemma
Break into components
Identify questions
Identify principles
Seek additional information (including patients & colleagues views)
Identify relevant law/professional guidance
Subject the dilemmas to critical analysis (including weighting)
Justify decisions and record
Back to basics approach
How do we know what the right thing to do is?
A. We can know the right thing to do
Duty-based ethics (deontology) - focuses on duties/principle of action eg god and gmc.
Consequence-based (utilitarianism, consequentialism) - focuses on consequences of actions. Considers risks/benefits/costs/burden
B. We cannot know the right thing to do (eg logical positivism). The right thing to do depends on what you mean by…..
***Virtue ethics - focus on character. This does not appear in the above model.
BMA ethics resources
https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/ethics
This contains a list of ethical issues.
On Autonomy
The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.
John Stuart Mill on liberty