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Define Ethics In Health Care

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Ethics can be described as being a concept or principle that describes human behavior. The meaning of ethic’s is hard to define; people have their own thoughts about what ethics is about. The word ethics often times is a link with law or religion. Both of these have more to do with society standards than one’s own behavior. Ethics is based on grounded values of right and wrong that advise what people should do. Moreover, you can relate ethics to fairness or specific virtues. Ethics can also be designated as values that impose the rational responsibilities to refrain from harming, stealing or killing. Ethics is the study of universal values that consist of equality, natural rights, obedience with the concern of health and safety. Additionally, ethics is a study of one’s own standards with the development of one’s own values and moral beliefs. Ethic’s means unremitting struggle of …show more content…

When we talk about health care ethics involving patients, it brings upon challenging principles in the health arena. There are four main principles that define the ethical duties within healthcare they are: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. These principles are in effect at all times within the care of the patient in any health care setting. (Health Care Ethics: Overview of the Basics, 2011) The most important of those principles is non-maleficence, which means do no harm. It is the foundation of medical ethics and part of the physician oath. In all situations, a provider should not cause any harm or put a patient in harm’s way. The principle of “non-maleficence” entails the purpose of circumventing needless harm or injury that can happen through acts of commission or omission. In simple language, it can be thought of as act of “negligence” if you enact a careless or arbitrary risk of harm upon another. (Runzheimer & Larsen,

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