Biomedical Ethics Book Report

David Hollie

REl 524

Week 11 Book Report

Tom L Beauchamp is a Professor of Philosophy and James F Childress is a professor of ethics at historical colleges in the United States. Together they are co-authors of the book “Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 7th Edition”.(Oxford University Press,2016). The four principles that are considered to be the core of moral reasoning in health care today include autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice are explored in this book. The book itself gives the reader a look into morality in dealing with the health care profession. By using case studies as well as examples, the authors are able to paint a clear picture of these principles. Not only do these techniques help it also paves the way

These types of philosophies contribute to moral thinking yet they are only principles. Many professionals have considered these principles but do not endorse the use of them entirely in the medical field. The main part of the book focuses on each of the four moral principles. The authors show groups of moral principles in Chapter’s 4-7. The principles are 1) respect for autonomy (a norm of respecting and supporting autonomous decisions), (2) nonmaleficence (a norm of avoiding the causation of harm), (3) beneficence (a group of norms pertaining to relieving, lessening, or preventing harm and providing benefits and balancing benefits against risks and costs), and (4) justice (a group of norms for fairly distributing benefits, risks, and costs).“ ( Chp1, pg.13, Beauchamp, Tom L, and James F Childress.) The word autonomy comes from the Greek autos, meaning“self” and nomos, meaning “rule,” “governance,” or “law”, according to the authors, it was originally denoted to the self-rule or self-governance of independent city-state. These principles are general guidelines for the presentation of more specific rules. In Chapters 4 through 7 the authors illustrate groups of moral principles, “ (Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Edition 7) The authors illustrate that it is a personal autonomy that incorporates self-rule which is free from controlling interference of others. Non-maleficence is a principle, that has been treated as almost identical to the celebrated maxim Primum noncore, ‘do no harm’, that obligates an individual to abstain from causing harm to others. (Pg.150, Principles of Biomedical Ethics) Beneficence and justice, provide important discussion which is illustrated by various examples derived from clinical