Medical Ethics For Dummies

Justice: Justice refers to fairness with respect to the distribution of medical resources. This principle draws upon ethics, the law, and public policy. Who should receive scarce medical resources, and how should we distribute them in order to realize the best outcomes? Making the system as a whole more fair is one of the goals of justice.

Providers are required to promote their patient’s health and well-being. Most doctors agree that healing is the main purpose of modern medicine. Beneficence means providers must help their patients.
Nonmaleficence: First, do no harm. Physicians must not harm a patient through carelessness, malice, vengeance, or dislike, or even through treatments intended to help the patient. This principle is balanced with beneficence in that any risks of a treatment or procedure to a patient must be outweighed by benefit. Some treatments always carry a risk of harm. But when the treatment is very risky, the benefit must be great, or the risk of not performing the procedure must be great.

The four major principles of medical ethics are
Autonomy: This principle is focused on the patient’s independence or liberty. A competent adult has the right to make decisions about what happens to his body. The person must be capable of rational thought and not be manipulated or coerced into any decision. An adult can refuse medical care or treatment or accept treatment when his provider suggests it. That person then lives with the consequences of his decision.
Beneficence: This principle states that a physician must act in the best interest of the patient.