Medical Ethics

SSYLKA ) The basic principles of this oath became the foundation of all following European codes of medical ethics . In 1797 the first manual of medical ethics was written in England by T . Percivale . It formed the position of American Medical Association . After World War I Nuremberg Code was adopted which included 10 ethical rules of running experiments on people such as a right of a patient to refuse to take part in experiments . The next step was the Declaration of Geneva which proclaimed confidentiality of medical activity (1948 . The International Code of

Medical Ethics (1949 , the Declaration of Helsinki (1964 , the Declarations of Lisbon and Venetian (1981 , 1983 ) extended the list of medical rules and laws

Because of the development of medical science doctors hit much more specific problems such as euthanasia , cloning , external fertilization As a result of philosophical and ethical comprehension of such problems the term `bioethics ' appears (V . R . Potter , 1971 . This conception summarizes all previous rules and based on four principles : respect for autonomy , beneficence , nonmaleficence , and justice . This approach was developed by Americans Beauchamp and Childress and claims that whatever our personal philosophy , politics , religion , moral theory , or life stance , we will find no difficulty in committing ourselves to four prima facie moral principles plus a reflective concern about their scope of application . Moreover , these four principles , plus attention to their scope of application , encompass most of the moral issues that arise in health care . Prima facie " a term introduced by the English philosopher W D Ross , means that the principle is binding unless it conflicts with another moral principle - if it does we have to choose between them

Respect for autonomy

Autonomy is derived from two Greek root words , autos and nomos meaning self rule . According to Beauchamp autonomy is `the obligation to respect the decision making capacities of autonomous persons (CCYLKA . If we have autonomy we can take our own decisions on the basis of reflection sometimes we can intend to do things as a result of those decisions and sometimes we can do those things to realize the decisions

Professor R . Gillon has for many years advocated the use of the Beauchamp and Childress four principles approach as a widely and interculturally acceptable method for medical ethics analysis (he has called himself their unpaid European agent . As R . Gillon noticed `in health care respecting people 's autonomy has many prima facie implications (CCYLKA . It means that doctors should consult people and obtain their agreement before they do things to them . Another implication is medical confidentiality . `We do not have any general obligation to keep other people 's secrets , but health care workers explicitly or implicitly promise their patients and clients that they will keep confidential the information confided to them . Keeping promises is a way of respecting people 's autonomy an aspect of running our own life depends on being able to rely on the promises made to us by others . Without such promises of confidentiality patients are also far less likely...