Medical Ethics Essays (1633 words) - Ethics, Philosophy,

Medical Ethics Class 1 Most people in the USA believe that we have private right. The struggle is that there is no such thing as a private right. A private right would be something that has no influence on any body else. There is no clear-cut difference between public and private. The issue is right and obligation. Pg. 367 Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek , Deon, "obligation, duty") is the normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on rules. It is sometimes described as "duty-" or "obligation-" or "rule-" based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty." From a deontological point of view, he did not want to give his kidney because he was a coward and he was justifying a lie. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that states that the best action is the one that maximizes utility. "Utility" is defined in various ways, usually in terms of the well being of sentient entities, such as human beings and other animals. According to D C you find your duty by reasoning. You have to come up with reasons for what you decide. From a utilitarian point of view for the case of the 5 years old girl needing a kidney, the father should be able to give his daughter the kidney because the risk of him dying those not out weight the need for the girl to have the kidney because more people would benefits from his transplant. You cannot make a decision from a utilitarian perspective just pertaining to you. It recognizes that none of our decision is just prevent and they affect other people's lives. Categorical Imperative (in Kantian ethics) an unconditional moral obligation that is binding in all circumstances and is not dependent on a person's inclination or purpose. Kant gives two forms of the categorical imperative: Behave in such a way that a reasonable generalization of your action to a universal rule will lead to a benefit to a generic person under this universal rule. Always treat others as ends and not means because there is value in the human life. Suppose there were a class of people who liked to be ends. Suppose these people, under certain special circumstances, would like to be treated as objects, for example, as tables. They enjoy being tables, and have tablecloths and wine glasses put on their backs, it does them no harm, and they enjoy the experience, and talk about the experience with joy and regard. Under these circumstances, knowing that you too might want to be a table at some point, would it be ok to treat these people as means and not ends, at least temporarily? Is there a precise sense in which 1 and 2 are equivalent, as they seem completely different to me. Perhaps the answer is that by respecting the wish to be means, not ends, you are treating the people as ends, not means. But then it becomes very difficult to actually determine when you are acting correctly according to imperative 2. To give more realistic precise examples, here are some things that are ok under 1 and not ok under 2: purchasing blood plasma from a poor, willing donor. lying to someone about something painful (like whether this person has cancer, or whether she is attractive in that dress, etc). prostitution, dwarf tossing, and other superficially exploitative professions. hypothetical imperatives, which are valid only in the presence of some ulterior desire or goale.g., "If you want to be well-liked, do not lie.") Why does your rationality indicate your dignity? The morally law within define our dignity. We only know it by reason. Right Theory A right gives his holder a justified claim to something and justified claim to another party. A right is identified as something that out an obligatory claim upon somebody else. Example because we have a right to life, homicide can't be justified. A right is different at different countries, for example in England if you are 80 it is going to be hard to get a kidney transplant than a 18 years old. This because we judge the value of our lives based on the natural coarse of life. Because we belief that everybody has a natural coarse of life. Beginning and ending, the