(SOLVED) how might an account of the internal morality of medicine and the four-fold good of the patient help to resolve ethical problems in medicine?

Discipline: Nursing

Type of Paper: Question-Answer

Academic Level: Undergrad. (yrs 1-2)

Paper Format: APA

Pages: 1 Words: 117

Question

From Pellegrino’s perspective, how might an account of the internal morality of medicine and the four-fold good of the patient help to resolve ethical problems in medicine?


Expert preview answer

The moral authority for professional ethics in medicine customarily rests in some source `external' to medicine, i.e., a pre-existing philosophical system of ethics or some form of social construction, like consensus or dialogue. Rather, `internal' morality is grounded in the pheno- mena of medicine, i.e., in the nature of the clinical encounter between physician and patient. From this, a philosophy of medicine is derived which gives moral force to the duties, virtues and obligations of physicians qua physicians. Similarly, an ethic specific to the other healing professions, law, teaching or ministry, can be derived from the specific ends or telos of each of these professions, which like medicine, are focused on a special type of human relationship.