Meghan Pelehac

Ethics Final Paper

7. Whatever your educational and professional path may be, you will, one day, be in a
position to be a mentor and to run a lab, a medical office, a unit at a hospital, and so on. 
Based on our class material and discussion, write an essay in which you describe your
aspirations for being a mentor: the characteristics of a good (and bad) mentor, and how
you think your own personality and experience will equip you in that role, including what
you see as your strengths and areas for growth.

The ultimate goal of my professional path is to become a physician. I know along the

way, as well as practicing every day in this field, my ethical values will be tested. We live in a

less deferential age where doctors are no longer afforded automatic respect on the basis of their

professional credentials. Additionally, this is accompanied by an obvious loss of “trust” in

healthcare professionals. Professional standards are a way to provide guidance on ethical

problems, but they cannot possibly address every issue. Some ethical issues are somewhat

straightforward, while others can be more perplexing, such as determining right from wrong or

deciding between two “rights” of two conflicting values, as well as deciding between two

different value systems, such as patient’s vs. the doctor’s. No code can capture the day-to-day

tensions and conflicts that are encountered through a healthcare career. Daily questions arise and

ponder a physician’s mind, Am I treating patients with dignity and ensuring that their rights are

fully respected? Is there informed consent? Am I upholding patient confidentiality? Do the risks

exceed the humanitarian benefit? No code of ethics can operate without being interpreted by an

individual through their own value system. Practicing medicine can often depend on making

fine-grained individual choices which represent the “least bad” course of action, and patients

have to be able to depend on the integrity of the physician. Integrity is the excellence of character

which appears most often in codes of practice and reprimands what it means to behave “well.”

However, the question of What does integrity exactly mean? is not fully defined. Integrity is
about incorporating different parts of one’s own true self, physically and mentally, and the ability

to develop the identity as a physician fulfilling such roles. However, I think if we are able to

understand the ethical challenges of practicing medicine, then it is important not to just consider

the duty as a physician but also to construct the character necessary to navigate through the

temptations encountered of an everyday basis as a practicing physician. Altogether, to me this

means that in order to truly understand ethical conduct I need to engage with my own character

and belief system. Also, I need to recognize which moral values have particular meaning behind

how I want my patients to view me, as well as link my patient-physician relationships to my

moral character.

For centuries, medicine’s principal contract with patients has rested on traditional values

advocated by society and the physician: the restoration of health and dignity of the individual

through compassionate care with the patient’s standing as the primary objective of medical

intervention. Ethics is a complex subject that demands an active and continuing struggle with

personal conscience. It is a complexity that demands engagement with moral decision-making on

the basis of obtaining “ethical approval” or having a “code of practice.” The goal is declared in a

code of medical practice known as the Hippocratic Oath, an ethical code of conduct stated in the

works of ancient Greek physicians. A modern Hippocratic Oath keeps original values in place

while accommodating the shift in medicine and the needs of our advanced medical practices. The

consensus was on four basic principles: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and respect for

the patient’s autonomy with its two rules of confidentiality and veracity. Beneficence means to

do good and avoid evil, and beneficent medicine has secured the patient’s trust in the physician

and has formulated a patient-doctor relationship. The principle responsibility of care rests with

the physician in a one-on-one exclusive affiliation with the patient. This ethical code enunciates
certain core principles while also bringing up the conflicting issue of the Hippocratic oath being

out of date. Today, this idea of “do no harm” vows to remember both the human beings on the

other end of the stethoscope and their social and financial well-being when treating them.

In 1979, the Belmont Report summarized these four key principles for ethical conduct

involving human subjects. Decision making involves engaging with the motives of the key

ethical principles. From our text, the Nazis at Nuremberg were a prime example of wrong-doing

and “betrayal of Hippocrates” within the German medical profession. The lack of clear

international ethical standards for the conduct of scientific research was an excuse used on behalf

of these doctors. The trials performed by these doctors has a significant long-term effect on the

development of research ethics in medical science. The teaching of medical ethics mainly

focuses on examples of wrong-doing or malpractice rather than well-meaning attempts to do the

right thing. Focusing on malpractice creates an impression that the practice environment is beset

with extreme versions of misconduct and can suggest to students that such behavior represents

the norm rather than the exception. While students may be able to understand what constitutes

“unethical” practice they can find it hard to consider the values which characterize “good”

practice, which is why there are constraints on the teaching of ethics.

A virtue is a “trait” of character, manifested in habitual action, that is good for a person to

develop. Macfarlane illustrated the virtues or excellences of “good” character – courage,

sincerity, humility, respectfulness, resoluteness, and reflexivity – which represent some of the

qualities needed to be a “good” mentor. This approach contrasts the dominance of the ethical

principles. The foundation of these virtues draws on the nature of “good” character as a guide to

ethics rather than providing prescriptive rules or principles. Virtue theory does not prescribe a

course of action in order to strive to be true to the excellences of character which is what forms
the basis of being a good person. The absence of rules in virtue theory force us to take personal

responsibility for our decisions rather than justifying actions on the basis of a de-personalized but

rational rule or principle for decision making. The question, What does it mean to be “good”?

has challenged philosophers since beginning of time. A common approach of attempting to

answer this question is to start by identifying the things we admire about people, who today are

referred to as “role models”. These “good” people tend to possess certain admirable qualities or

characteristic traits such as honesty and loyalty. I think that honesty, perseverance, and

willingness to take criticism are among the personal qualities that characterize “good” physician.

Virtue theory has a profound impact on the development of professional values.

Although there is not one single approach to acquire practicing medicine ethically, I think

it is important to understand ethical standards and how to meet them from the beginning of the

journey to becoming a medical professional. That is where modernizing ethics education

becomes valuable. I think that within complex matters of making ethical decisions, there often is

not a simple right or wrong answer, as long as all aspects of the argument have been explored,

you are able to justify your actions if called upon, and you have considered the implications of

your actions. Especially after taking this ethics class, I realized that I must have the courage to

act when I witness injustice. One of my favorite quotes from Macfarlanes text is, “The only

ethical principle which has made science possible is that the truth must be told all the time. It we

do not penalize false statements made in error then we open up the way for false statements

made by intent, and the false statement made by intent is the most serious crime that a scientist

can commit.” One of the many reasons I want to be a physician is because I truly value the

meaning behind these core principles, in addition to my attraction to the nature of a physician’s

duty of committing to patients, committing to finding solutions, and committing to maintaining

wellness, while still respecting patients’ rights and upholding specific ethical standards.

Moreover, establishing a trusting patient-physician relationship is important to me. Throughout

my everyday life I have tried to consistently act with honesty and integrity, while also

developing and maintaining my professional performance. I also understand what it means to

respect the values of individual patients, as well as the emphasis of making the care of your

patients your first concern. I aspire to someday display the qualities of a “good” doctor and

acquire the ability to successfully tackle ethical dilemmas encountered each day as a practicing

physician. It is only by constantly developing and maintain an understanding of our own sense of

integrity, and being aware of our own faults, that we can grasp the sense of responsibility of

being a “good” individual. I think it is important for medical students or any healthcare

professional to gain knowledge of medical ethics early on, as well as the basic methodologies

that can be used along with more scientifically based skills for reasoning through these kinds of

ethical dilemmas. Overall, it can only be the physician who will ever know the truth behind the

fine-grained decisions of achieving excellence of “good” character, and it is within the physician

to determine their ethical values.