It Is a Mistake to Reject Religious Principles in Favour of Secular/Ethical Principles for Guidance in Medical Ethics

The biggest key to it is that there must be control over the advancement of technology. Every good thing in this world has a point where it starts to become a problem with negative effects and this includes technology concerning a person’s health. In the essay Priorities in Biomedical Ethics by James F. Childress, he says “It is limited and constrained by nature itself, by moral principles and rules, and by ultimate loyalty and responsibility to God” (Childress p.4 1981).These moral principles that he is talking about are the ones concerning a person’s health being downgraded after the procedure and that it is not morally right to keep them alive (Childress 1981). Then when he mentions the responsibility to God, he means that God controls when someone’s health declines to the point of death and that, we as his creations, should not go against him. The fact people are kept alive in artificial ways to where they cannot live to the standards that God wants them to, is going against our responsibility to God (Childress 1981). James Childress goes on to say that human’s control over nature can be destructive at times because when we as humans start defying God we are committing a sin. He does say however that we can put limits on our technology to where we don’t sin as heavily towards God. Then he says “If a society views death as an enemy, always to be opposed, it

In examining the relationship between religion and morality, there are many equally important topics that should be considered. One topic, nonetheless, that I think is essential in beginning to discuss the philosophy of morality in the context of religion is that which is concerned with whether religion has a significant role in the definition of morality. Religion does have a significant role in the defining and understanding of morality, and this is important for ethics. The aim of this paper is not to argue whether it is possible for one to be moral without being religious, for this I assume is more or less evidently possible, but rather whether a general concept of religion and God is needed in the proper interpretation of morality. I will refer to Plato’s Euthyphro and its focus on piety and the dilemma it generates, in guiding this discussion.

There are four principles of ethics: Respect for autonomy, Beneficence, Non maleficence and Justice. This four principles offers comprehensive thought of the ethical issues in clinical settings (Beauchamp and Childress 2001 cited in UK Clinical ethics Network 2011).

The belief that morality requires God remains a widely held moral maxim. In particular, it serves as the basic assumption of the Christian fundamentalist's social theory. Fundamentalists claim that all of society's troubles - everything from AIDS to out-of-wedlock pregnancies - are the result of a breakdown in morality and that this breakdown is due to a decline in the belief of God. This paper will look at different examples of how a god could be a bad thing and show that humans can create rules and morals all on their own. It will also touch upon the fact that doing good for the wrong reasons can also be a bad thing for the person.

The core moral order of medicine in the United States shares many of the core values of the scientific community. Wendland describes four central ideas that she believes form this moral order. The first idea is “reductionist rationality,” or the idea that the body and its diseases can be understood in an objective and scientific way by reducing into smaller components. It implies that there is no need for a theological or mystical explanation to explain a biological process or disease that is not currently understood. The solution lies in future research. The second idea is “authority over

The third defining principle of medical ethics is to “do no harm.” This means that even though a treatment may advance the health of a patient and

The four principles of medical ethics include nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, and justice. These principles were created by Beauchamp and James Childress because they felt these four were the building blocks of people’s morality. Nonmaleficence is to do no harm to others. Beneficence is to care or help others. Autonomy is to respect another’s wishes. These four principles relate to issues surrounding physician-assisted death in many ways. To begin, there are seven individual forms of PAD. They are the following; voluntary passive euthanasia, nonvoluntary passive euthanasia, involuntary passive euthanasia, voluntary active euthanasia, nonvoluntary active euthanasia, involuntary active euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide. Passive euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician withholds treatment or surgery and the result is the patient’s death. An example of passive euthanasia is a cancer patient refusing treatment and the physician agrees with their decision, therefore the patient dies from the lack of intervention to treat their illness. Active euthanasia is an act in which the health care physician has a direct contact with the patient’s death due to the physician’s act of doing something to the patient in order for them to die. An example of active euthanasia is an injection of potassium chloride. Voluntary is when the patient is requesting assistance to die. Nonvoluntary is when the patient is not requesting assistance and their wishes are unknown

According to Pozgar (2016), “Spirituality implies that there are purpose and meaning to life; spirituality generally refers to faith in a higher being” (p. 52). In the health care settings, patients and providers need to face unique situations in where sometimes their spirituality is their only hope to cope with the results. In the present days, with an emphasis on a holistic approach, it is very important to consider the spiritual and religious preferences of patients. However, not only spirituality and religion can be a support for patients, also, patient’s beliefs can affect their treatments and health care providers need to learn how to approach this type of situations with ethics. As

Many religions and backgrounds have boundaries that contradict common medical practices. For instance, a Middle Eastern woman enters the hospital and it is clear from examining bloodstains through her Abaya and Thawb, common dress codes for a Middle Eastern woman, that she has suffered lacerations to her abdomen and chest. This seems like a pretty simple diagnosis and prognosis, or way to go about treatment. However, it is against her practices to show bare skin in that region to anyone except her husband. In concurrence with the beliefs of Tsai, the doctor’s primary job is to help all patients in need, but must respect the autonomy of the patient first and foremost – permission is priority (Medicine and Society). Even though it may not be the best decision, at the end of the day the physician must respect the requests of the patient. Nevertheless, it is the doctor’s responsibility to disclose all information about the treatment, illness or issue with the patient and let the patient make an autonomous decision based on the facts provided. On top of all other responsibilities, a doctor also is responsible for taking all possible measures in treatment – thinking of “outside the box” ways to treat the problem without having to invade or disrespect the desires and customs of the patient. The key is that being on the same team and

Goldsmith talks about how religion is the “part of our culture… which we regard as… self evident- on which we are not willing to compromise- in which we must include the generalities of our behaviour pattern if a society is to be to stable,” (Goldsmith, 1974). Goldsmith touches on the facts that religion sets up “guidelines,” like the Ten Commandments of Christianity and Judaism, similar to the the Seven Commandments of Animal Farm, or the Eightfold Path of Buddhism. With these guidelines, religion is essentially setting the basic morals and ethics of the people. Without those ethics, the crime rate and chaos would be through the roof. Goldsmith also dwells on the principle of sacredness and how “if something is sacred, it means that one cannot change it let alone destroy it,” (Goldsmith, 1974).

Am actual account of religious beliefs and shunning of medical treatment was first recorded in 2009 with a Northeast Philadelphia family. The family whose religion shunned traditional medicine allowed an infant son to pass away at a nearby hospital. In 2009 according to an article published in the Newsworks Philadelphia Newspaper written by

According to the first principle, nonmaleficience, it would not be appropriate as a professional to practice medicine based on his or her own beliefs and not consider the patients feelings about the operation. In this particular case, regarding religious constrictions the doctor must decide if the patients’ needs outweigh the ethical belief of nonmaleficience. Asserting empathy in this case could prove to be a problem. How does a person wholly understand the beliefs of another when they have not been exposed to those beliefs and culture that supplied this person with their values of living? Understanding a patient’s background can significantly impact a decision. If a doctor were to treat a Jehovah Witness with blood they need to understand the impact they would be having on their patient’s life.

To many individuals, morality and religion are two related but distinct ideas. To be specific, morality consists of principles set by societal norms concerning the distinction between right and wrong and good and bad behaviour among persons. Alternatively, religion involves the relationship between human beings and a transcendent reality or a superhuman controlling power, God. In many societies in the past and present, the idea of God is used to help reinforce moral codes as valuable and vital through rituals and methods of presenting the teachings of God. By many, religion is used to instil fear

There are four basic ethical and bioethical principles that have a strong influence in the practice of medicine, predominantly medicine that deals with those who are dying. The first is beneficence, which directs the physician and health care worker to take positive actions, specifically by restoring health and relieving suffering (Bongard et al., 2008). Then there is nonmaleficence. Goldman and Schafer (2012) add that nonmaleficence is the idea that people should not be harmed or injured knowingly. The third ethical principle is autonomy,

The essay will discuss the ETHICS IN MEDICINE : The Relationship Between Law and Medical Ethics: