Essay topics and Medical Ethics

Question 1

4 pillars of medical ethics

Answer 1

beneficence- doing good
non-maleficence- do no harm
justice- equal treatment of all individuals
autonomy- patient’s right to make their own decisions

Question 2

5 key virtues in virtue ethics

Answer 2

compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, integrity and conscientiousness

Question 3

concequentialism

Answer 3

The morality of a decision depends on the consequences. If the consequence is good then the decision was right but if they are bad then the decision was wrong.

Question 4

legal definition of death

Answer 4

brain stem death ie. person is said to stop being alive in everything but a mechanical sense

Question 5

Department of Health’s A Code of Practice for the Diagnosis of Brain Stem Death (1998)

Answer 5

(1) the coma cannot be due to reversible causes,
(2) several components of the brain stem including the respiratory centre must be permanently destroyed and (3) the patient must be unable to breathe spontaneously.
Brain stem death must be confirmed by two medical practitioners.