Health

11 Pages 2725 Words

Medical Ethics

Medical Ethics “ Bioethics comprise every possible aspect of health care, medical, moral, social, political, religious, legal and financial” (Weiss 3). This includes the questions raised by new research. It takes a look at the results of that research that is used on patients. It takes into consideration contemporary ideas of personal freedom and human dignity. It deals with growth in medical services available in the United States and the sky rocketing cost. Bioethics also deals with the medical advances in technology that has reshaped traditional medical ethics. Medical ethics have changed drastically over a period of years. From old commandments to new commandments, guidelines that provide structural framework, classic experiments that challenge that framework, or even how things are defined in medical ethics. “Medical progress goes on, and the perils of progress must be heeded” (Leone 165). Changing times have in turn changed our codes of ethics. There are five old commandments of ethics and five new commandments of ethics. These commandments come from many years of heavily advised dictates from various people. A commandment by definition is, “ ... a dictate or a strongly advised piece of advice” (Halsey 201). The first traditional commandment is, “ Treat all human life as of equal worth” (Singer 190). This statement is very difficult to follow; almost no person believes this statement whole-heartedly. The statement makes more sense on paper or just being heard, but its application in life is almost impossible to ensure. In comparison to the first old ethic, the first new ethic states, “Recognize that the worth of human life varies” (Singer 190). This statement allows for variation and livability in society. It gives way for someone to say, if a person is a vegetable, has no vital capabilities, this person’s life is of no worth anymore. Without this sort of change in today’s advancing civil...