January 28, 2020 HTH 423 Notes
Summary of 1/21/2020:
 There are 2 major type of consequentialism. Jeremey Bentham was for pleasure no matter
if it was just for one person whereas Mills was for maximizing everyone’s pleasure.
There are 3 types of Utilitarianism
Class Discussion
 Self-guided questions: First read the chapter and then you ask yourself a question, so
create a question and then answer it, if you cannot answer it then you don’t know the
material.
Key Question:
Understand the difference between ethical, legal, and scientific questions. What are the
definitions of non-maleficence and beneficence? How are they similar? How are they different?
o First ask yourself if it is ethical to do
Example: Steroids
 Ethical: should you use them or not?
 Scientific question: The benefits of steroids?
 Legal: Is it legal to use?
 Questions of personal preference, custom or habit, “Would you use steroids if offered”?
Example: Stealing
 Your brother/sister is very ill and needs medication you cannot afford, is stealing
medicine to help him/her live right?
 Ethical: Should people steal in cases of medical emergencies?
 Legal: Is it legal for people to steal?
 Scientific: Was the stolen medicine the best option =, are other medicine better?
 Cultural/Custom: Why does medicine cost money?
Virtue Ethics (IN BOOK)
 Traces its roots to Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics)
 Eudaimonia: happiness or flourishing (you want to do what is right)
 A key term related to virtue ethics is Eudaimonia
o Striving to achieve the best hat is within us
o “know thy self” and “become what you are”
o Eudaimonia (e.g., growth, meaning, authenticity, excellence, flourishing) and its
distinction from hedonia (e.g., pleasure, enjoyment, comfort, absence of distress)
(you do what feels good not what is right)
 Focuses on the character of the agent instead isolated acts
 Virtue model take into account of context and consequences without reducing ethics to
promoting pleasure, avoiding pain, or doing one’s duty
 Practical wisdom (experience) is needed for character building
 Nico manchen ethics book (Aristotle)
 A Summa theologica (Saint Thomas of Aqeenis)
Tom Beauchamp and Alastair Childress suggested four virtues for healthcare
 Autonomy- ability to decide for oneself
 Beneficence- practice of doing the good thing
 Non maleficence- not doing wrong toward another
 Justice
o Distributive- proper sharing property and burdens and benefits
o Procedural- proper application of the rules in the hearing of a case
Nonmaleficence (inaction does not equal harm)
 First, do no harm -misattributed Hippocratic oath is actually from Epidemics
 Latin maxim: Primum non nocere
 The definition of harms depends on the perspective
o (Depends on what one’s definition is)
Nonmaleficence cont. (inaction does not equal harm)
 Sometimes harmful action is necessary, but it should not be automatic
 The benefits should outweigh the suffering
 Which ethics theory does this follow?
 Ex: Drawing blood (nurse), telling a patient about a diagnosis (doctor), downsizing a
hospital (CEO/Hospital Administrator)
 consequentalism
Beneficence (inaction does not equal harm)
 Do good
 A doctor is on an airplane, passenger starts to complain about chest pains. The airplane
steward asks is there a doctor on board. Doc tilts his hat down and continues to read his
paper. Was this ethical?
o No because they took an oath
o Violation of beneficence: cannot be sued
Examples:
 You see your friend has had a bad day. You offer zem a hug. EX of: Beneficence
 A friend makes you mad and you do not punch zem in the face. EX of : Nonmaleficence
When you see the word violation
 Do good *beneficence or do not harm *nonmaleficene
 It is the action that matters when you choose between nonmaleficence and beneficence