Medical ethics and medical law: can you put it into practice?

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
Simon Walton
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Medical Law

Medical Law and Medical Ethics

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Hoppe ◽  
José Miola
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Medical Law

The loved ones: families, intimates and patient autonomy

Legal Studies ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine O'Donovan ◽  
Roy Gilbar
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Patient Autonomy ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Central Values ◽  
Patients Rights ◽  
Law And Ethics ◽  
The Family ◽  
Legal Position ◽  
The Individual

Patient autonomy is one of the central values in medical ethics. It is generally understood as recognition of patients' rights as free individuals answerable only to themselves. This emphasis on the individual leaves open the question of the position of the patients' ‘loved ones’, that is of families and significant others. The authors examine this question in three areas of law and medical ethics. Organ donation offers an example of preference given by medical ethics to family views, notwithstanding an expressed wish of the deceased to donate, and the legal position protecting such a request. Decisions concerning the treatment of incompetent patients illustrate consideration for the family in medical ethics, but hesitations in both law and ethics in accepting family views once expressed. And the tension between the interests of patients and family members over the access to genetic information usually results in respecting the patient's right to confidentiality. This individualistic perception of autonomy, as adopted by medical law, overlooks the patient's relationships with others and is too narrow to face the complexities of human lives.

Feminism, Ethics of Care, and Medical Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 26-45
Author(s):  
Jonathan Herring
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Law And Ethics ◽  
Bioethical Issues ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the nature of ethics of care, which has become a highly influential approach to ethical questions. It summarizes its intellectual history and provides a definition of the concept of care. It then sets out the main themes of the approach and considers some of the objections that have been raised to it. The chapter provides some examples of ways in which ethics of care could be used to resolve difficult issues that arise in medical law and ethics. It also explores other feminist approaches to bioethical issues and the significance of ethics of care for medical law.

scholarly journals Development and validation of an instrument to measure physician awareness of bioethics and medical law in Oman

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed S. Al-Busaidi ◽  
Anuradha Ganesh ◽  
Samir Al-Adawi ◽  
Yahya M. Al-Farsi ◽  
Maryam K. Al-Rawahi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Internal Consistency Reliability ◽  
Tertiary Hospital ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Physician Awareness ◽  
Development And Validation

Abstract Background A different ethos with respect to the perception of medical ethics prevails in societies in transition such as those in the Arabian Peninsula, which makes it difficult to apply international principles of bioethics in medical practice. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically test an instrument that measures physicians’ awareness of bioethics and medical law and their attitudes towards the practice of medical ethics. Additionally, it examined physician correlates influencing the awareness of bioethics. Methods Following a rigorous review of relevant literature by a panel of experts, a 13-item instrument, the Omani physicians’ bioethics and medical law awareness (OBMLA) questionnaire was developed with the aim of assessing physicians’ awareness of bioethics and medical law. The study tool’s construct validity and internal consistency reliability were examined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha. In a cross-sectional study, the questionnaire was distributed among a random sample of 200 physicians at a tertiary hospital in Muscat, Oman. Participant characteristics that may influence awareness of bioethics and medical law were explored. Results The EFA of the OBMLA questionnaire resulted in three well-loading factors: (1) Physicians’ bioethics practice subscale (2) incentive related bioethics subscale and (3) medical law awareness subscale. Internal consistency reliability ranged between Cronbach’s α: 0.73–0.8. Of the total 200 participants, 52% reported that teaching medical ethics during medical school was inadequate. The overall mean (standard deviation, SD) of the bioethics awareness score and Omani medical law awareness were 27.6 (3.5) and 10.1 (2.1) respectively. The majority of physicians (73%) reported that they frequently encountered ethical dilemmas in their practice and 24.5% endorsed the view that unethical decisions tended to occur in their practice. Conclusion The study provides an insight into the practice of bioethics, and the awareness of bioethics and medical law among physicians in a teaching hospital in Oman. The OBMLA questionnaire appears to be a valid and reliable tool to assess a physician’s awareness of bioethics and medical law. In this preliminary study, it appears that participants have suboptimal scores on the indices which measure practice and awareness of bioethics and medical law.

scholarly journals Challenges of traditional bioethical principles in the implementation of contemporary standards of medical law

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Hajrija Mujovic-Zornic
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Theoretical Aspect ◽  
Practical Aspect ◽  
Biomedical Ethics ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Law And Ethics

The paper focuses on issues of development dimensions of Medical Law and its ongoing process of standardization and harmonization on one hand, versus the traditionally rooted and available principles of biomedical ethics, on the other. The collision of new legal institutes and the spread of human rights protections is evident. This paper follows the theory and practice of medical ethics and medical law. The theoretical aspect points out medical ethics as one of the sources of medical law. Legal theory makes a distinction between formal and autonomous sources of medical law. Even though ethics is morally much higher, law prevails because it has stronger sanctions and legal power. In its practical aspect, this paper gives examples of different situations of medical decision-making processes. Ethical rules are of the utmost relevance in the domain of confidentiality and options of medical treatment. But, in concrete medical procedures, where legal positions of patients are evidently very significant, law has a more distinct function. Therefore, explaining particular cases from medical malpractice, such as cases of penal, civil or professional liability have an ethical dimension as well. Members of medical professions in Serbia often find these cases unfair. Mostly this is the consequence of ignorance in this kind of medical law and ethics relations. A discussion about practical cases has in that sense a self-learning component, which could be developed to strengthen ethical reasoning and judgment.

1. Ethics and Medical Law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-46
Author(s):  
Jonathan Herring
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Health Statistics ◽  
Communitarian Ethics ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter discusses various aspects of ethics and medical law. It begins with a definition of medical law. It then covers the nature of illness, the scope of medicine, the sociological impact of being ill, UK health statistics, and general ethical principles. This is followed by discussions of the notion of rights; patients’ obligations; principlism; hermeneutics; casuistry; feminist medical ethics; care ethics; virtue ethics; and communitarian ethics. It also explains the role of theology, relativism, and pragmatism in medical ethics. The chapter also explores the links between ethics and law. It cannot be assumed that because something is unethical it must be unlawful, nor that everything unlawful is necessarily unethical.

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