Essay on Medical Ethics
Medical practitioners are people who help us cure our sicknesses. They studied for many years just to acquire all the knowledge they have. They have different specialties designated for different types of diseases. Medical practitioners are the most reliable health care personnel to assess and treat disabilities and diseases that are either caused by both internal and external. Some of us may think that their profession is perfect because they can do anything and everything they want worth their patients, but the people in the medical field also have to follow proper ethical procedure.
Medical or health care ethics has different versions. During the Byzantine era, there was a manuscript where Hippocratic Oath Medical or health care ethics is considered as moral principles that apply values in the practice of clinical medicine and scientific research. The medical or health care ethics applied to the concepts of health care setting. The application and significance of ethics are based on the set of values that the professionals can refer to when they experience either a conflict or confusion. The values that are included in the medical or health care ethics are respect for the concepts of beneficence, autonomy, justice, and non-maleficence.
Medical or health care ethics was first understood and applied in 1803 by academic researchers. Thomas Percival was a medical practitioner who published a book that describes the expectations and requirements and professional expectations in the medical field. Code of Ethics began to be understood and then started to spread worldwide. The concept has been amended; however, many academic professionals kept the essence of Percival’s written document on medical or health care ethics.
The medical or health care ethics has at least four basic principles. These are justice, beneficence, autonomy, and non-maleficence. These four principles are essential to evaluate the difficulties and merits to health care procedure and expenses. Autonomy requires that the patient should provide their full consent when making decisions about their health care condition. The medical practitioner should always ask for the patient’s consent before addressing a procedure. The decision of the patient must not be affected by the medical practitioner’s persuasion and it must always be his or her personal decision.
The patient is informed about the expected consequences and risks after the procedure. The next principle is justice. This states that all the new medical information is always available to the public. The medical practitioner should not partake in discrimination and share the information whether the patient is either poor or rich. Justice applied to considering a fair distribution of scarce resources, competing needs, rights and obligations, and potential conflicts with established legislation. All the technologies should be available for all in order to diminish medical dilemmas.
Beneficence requires that all medical procedure provided for the patients should all be beneficial. The health care providers should also update their knowledge, skills, and training in order to fit in the demand of the evolving world. In all circumstances, the medical practitioner should strive for the benefits of his or her patients in order to give them quality service.
The last one principle is non-maleficence; this requires the health care provider to do his or her best to not do any harm to the patient or anyone who is involved. If harm cannot be fully diminished, it is their duty to, at least, minimize it by pursuing the greater good. Some assistive reproductive technologies have limited success rate, so it is sometimes difficult for the medical practitioner to apply the “no harm principle.”
Principles of medical ethics always serve as a guide for the medical practitioners to fulfill their duty. Ethical standards provide a basis to prevent committing errors in their career. Medical ethics is very important because it helps medical practitioners save their patients in the most critical operations. The code is a written and used as a living testament that is always available to be edited by medical practitioners and researchers.
