How the Four Principles of Health Care Ethics Improve Patient Care

Whether your role is that of a doctor or a health care administrator, working in the field of hea
lth care is both highly rewarding and challenging. Many medical procedures and treatments hav
e both merits and downsides, and patients have their own input and circumstances to consider.
The four principles of health care ethics developed by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress in t
he 1985 Principles of Biomedical Ethics provide medical practitioners with guidelines to make dec
isions when they inevitably face complicated situations involving patients. The four principles of
health care ethics are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.

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oseph’s University is developed for the modern health care marketplace and delivered by expert
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The Four Principles of Health Care Ethics

The basic definitions of each of the four principles of health care ethics are commonly known a
nd used often in the English language, but they take on special meaning when being utilized in
a medical setting. All of these principles play a key role in ensuring optimal patient safety and
care.

1. Autonomy: In medicine, autonomy refers to the right of the patient to retain control over his
or her body. A health care professional can suggest or advise, but any actions that attempt to
persuade or coerce the patient into making a choice are violations of this principle. In the end,
the patient must be allowed to make his or her own decisions – whether or not the medical pr
ovider believes these choices are in that patient’s best interests – independently and according t
o his or her personal values and beliefs.

2. Beneficence: This principle states that health care providers must do all they can to benefit th
e patient in each situation. All procedures and treatments recommended must be with the inten
tion to do the most good for the patient. To ensure beneficence, medical practitioners must de
velop and maintain a high level of skill and knowledge, make sure that they are trained in the
most current and best medical practices, and must consider their patients’ individual circumstanc
es; what is good for one patient will not necessary benefit another.

3. Non-Maleficence: Non-maleficence is probably the best known of the four principles. In short,
it means, “to do no harm.” This principle is intended to be the end goal for all of a practitione
r’s decisions, and means that medical providers must consider whether other people or society c
ould be harmed by a decision made, even if it is made for the benefit of an individual patient.

4. Justice: The principle of justice states that there should be an element of fairness in all medic
al decisions: fairness in decisions that burden and benefit, as well as equal distribution of scarce
resources and new treatments, and for medical practitioners to uphold applicable laws and legisl
ation when making choices.