What is Medical Ethics ?

By the 18th and 19th centuries, medical ethics emerged as a more self-conscious discourse. In England, Thomas Percival, a physician and author, crafted the first modern code of medical ethics. He drew up a pamphlet with the code in 1794 and wrote an expanded version in 1803, in which he coined the expressions "medical ethics" and "medical jurisprudence"

Although ethical decision-making often requires extra time, it also can save time by anticipating disagreements that can slow down the care process.

In the medieval and early modern period, the field is indebted to Islamic scholarship such as Ishaq ibn Ali al-Ruhawi (who wrote the Conduct of a Physician, the first book dedicated to medical ethics), Avicenna's Canon of Medicine and Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (known as Rhazes in the West), Jewish thinkers such as Maimonides, Roman Catholic scholastic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas, and the case-oriented analysis (casuistry) of Catholic moral theology.

We must also be grateful to philosophers for one particular deontological approach, which countless health care professionals and students today have grabbed as an ethical lifebelt

However, there are some who see Percival's guidelines that relate to physician consultations as being excessively protective of the home physician's reputation. Jeffrey Berlant is one such critic who considers Percival's codes of physician consultations as being an early example of the anti-competitive, "guild"-like nature of the physician community.

If you aren't ethical, patients or other caregivers who are upset with your decisions can seriously impede your work.

These intellectual traditions continue in Catholic, Islamic and Jewish medical ethics.

One cause of burnout is incongruence between physicians' personal values and those of their organization.

In 1815, the Apothecaries Act was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced compulsory apprenticeship and formal qualifications for the apothecaries of the day under the license of the Society of Apothecaries. This was the beginning of regulation of the medical profession in the UK.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, medical ethics emerged as a more self-conscious discourse. In England, Thomas Percival, a physician and author, crafted the first modern code of medical ethics.

Turning now from principles to persons, another approach, increasingly popular today, but essentially as old as Aristotle, shifts the focus of attention away from the moral act to the moral agent.

Physicians who can describe their ethical concerns and use negotiating skills may be able to change the organizational policies that produce burnout.

Ethical decisions require a more deliberative style than many physicians are used to, outside of clinical decision-making. Doctors have to collect information, explore the ethical issues, and ask more questions if need be.

He drew up a pamphlet with the code in 1794 and wrote an expanded version in 1803, in which he coined the expressions "medical ethics" and "medical jurisprudence".

This approach, often referred to by the misleadingly prim title of “virtue ethics” is concerned less with the right thing to do, than the best kind of person to be.

In 1847, the American Medical Association adopted its first code of ethics, with this being based in large part upon Percival's work

However, there are some who see Percival's guidelines that relate to physician consultations as being excessively protective of the home physician's reputation.

As an ethical physician, you need to schedule your time, be efficient in obtaining medical information, and pass off some responsibilities to other qualified caregivers.

The kind of question that someone taking this approach might ask is: “If I were to do such and such now, would I be acting justly or unjustly (or neither), kindly or unkindly [and so on]”

While the secularized field borrowed largely from Catholic medical ethics, in the 20th century a distinctively liberal Protestant approach was articulated by thinkers such as Joseph Fletcher.

Getting to a useful ethical conclusion about a specific problem means starting with solid values that most people can accept, such as upholding patients' health, telling patients the truth, and giving people a choice about being in a medical experiment. These basic values are rarely in dispute.

Jeffrey Berlant is one such critic who considers Percival's codes of physician consultations as being an early example of the anti-competitive, "guild"-like nature of the physician community.

The contemporary virtue ethicist Hursthouse admits that the number of positive “virtue terms” available for this kind of questioning is limited. She points out, however, that the same question may be asked very productively with reference to avoiding the many vices.

Many other values are also widely accepted, such as patient autonomy. The same applies to being fair with your patients, meaning that all patients are essentially treated alike regarding critical healthcare decisions.

In the 1960s and 1970s, building upon liberal theory and procedural justice, much of the discourse of medical ethics went through a dramatic shift and largely reconfigured itself into bioethics