MEDICAL ETHICS AND

STANDARDS ASSIGNMENT
Topic: Deontology, Utilitarianism, Casuist theory,
Virtue theory

Submitted by
D.Pavithra
19PEM004
I M.E
 DEONTOLOGY
 The deontological theory states that people should adhere to their obligations and duties when
analyzing an ethical dilemma.
 This means that a person will follow his or her obligations to another individual or society
because upholding one's duty is what is considered ethically correct
 This means that for an individual to make the correct moral decision, the individual needs to
clearly understand the moral duties and also the correct rules that exist to regulate those duties.
 Thus, when the individual follows those duties, that individual is considered to be behaving
morally.
 As applying this theory is regardless of any person or society, an individual following this
theory should produce fairly consistent decision since the decision is based on the individual’s
set duties.
 It contains set of absolute morals
1. Duties of fidelity-to keep promises
2. Duties of reparation- To compensate for injuries

3. Duties of gratitude- return favors

4. Duties of justice- to distribute goods according to people’s merits or deserts.

5. Duties of beneficence- to do whatever to improve conditions of others.

6. Duties of self-improvement- To improve our own condition with respect to virtue and
intelligence

7. Duties of non-maleficence-To avoid injuries to others

UTILITARIANISM
 It is a moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of
good over bad.
 An action is morally right if its consequences lead to happiness (absence of pain) , and
wrong if it ends in unhappiness (pain).
 It is consequence based.
 The end justifies the means.
 Greatest good for greatest number.

There are two types of utilitarianism as follows

 Act utilitarianism – An action is right if and only if it produces the greatest balance of
pleasure over pain for every one
 For example, if 20 people were held hostage by four criminals, it would be correct for the
police to kill the four criminals to save the 20 people. In other words, the greatest happiness
for the greatest number of people.

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 Rule utilitarianism – An action is right if and only if conforms to a set of rules the general
acceptance of which would produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for every
one
 For example, everyone obeys road traffic rules, like stopping at red lights, which makes the
roads safer for everyone.
Utilitarian principle involves four distinct thesis:

1. Consequentialism
2. Hedonism(Bentham)- Pleasure in absence of pain.
3. Maximalism - A right action is one that has not merely some good consequences, but
the greatest amount of good consequences.
4. Universalism- The consequences to be considered are those of everyone.

CASUIST THEORY
 Casuistry takes information or meaning of a particular case and applies it to another
particular case.
 Casuistry relies on precedents and existing paradigms that are believed to give insight and
shared agreement about new cases.
 With casuistry, you begin an ethical analysis by identifying particular features of the
specific case instead of using an abstract principle and applying it to the case.
 For example, suggestion of chemotherapy to a cancer patient, with casuistry, we look to
similar cases in the past for basic guidance to understand the particular case at hand in order
to judge it.
 The key word is ‘guidance’ because ethical intuitions differ with different people.
 For example, some may pay attention to certain features of the specific case, while others
may ignore these same features or at the least judge them to be less important than other
features.

Two Criticisms of Casuistry

1. If not all people can agree then how can justification for an action be given. In other words,
if principles are not objective, impartial standards outside of our intuitions, and if different
people have different intuitive judgments about a case then how can anything about
casuistry itself judge.
2. Casuistry is not forward looking enough to give guidance about ethical issues in scientific
innovation.
For example, the method and aims of cloning human embryos are significantly different
from those of existing forms of assisted reproduction. So, in this example, casuistry does
not offer much help in exploring the ethical implications of cloning nor with other new
medical technologies.

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 VIRTUE THEORY
• Virtues refer to specific character traits
• Examples: truth telling, honest, courage, kindness, respectfulness, compassion, fairness,
integrity

• Virtues become apparent through one’s behavior and are obviously linked to ethical
principles

• Descriptions of character portray a way of being rather than the process of decision making
• The ability to respond to ethical dilemmas then become hinged upon one’s character.
• The virtue ethical theory judges a person by his character rather than by an action that may
deviate from his normal behavior.

• It takes the person's morals, reputation and motivation into account when rating an unusual
and irregular behavior that is considered unethical
• Virtue ethics is agent based, describing the character of a moral agent as the driving force for
an ethical behavior.
• In other words, virtue ethics is concerned with a person’s motivation for action and not with
the action itself.
• Example: If one performs a compassionate act, it is because one has compassionate character
in order to act in compassionate way.
• For the virtuous person they believe it is intrinsically good to be compassionate and the
person’s actions reflect this belief.