The physician must consider the potential benefits of the new procedure and then determine, through discussion with the patient, what value the patient places on those specific benefits.
Equating conscience with clinical judgment challenges the way that ethics is marginalized in medical education. Ethics is simply an account of what good medical practice looks like in particular situations.
Michael J. O’Brien, MD and William P. Meehan III, MD
It is unclear whether the decreased risk of injury associated with prohibiting a teenage boy from playing football outweighs the benefits to his health and well-being of allowing him to participate.
Distinctions between treatment and enhancement, and between supposedly authentic and inauthentic tools, often inform judgments about what is morally acceptable in sport.
The American Psychological Association’s ethical guidelines condoning psychologists’ participation in torture, which were motivated by professional self-interest, constitute a violation of medical ethics and international law.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(10):924-930. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.10.nlit1-1510.