Republic of the Philippines

Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology

Cabanatuan City

Submitted by:
Laira Gaye Arreola
Cherry Belle Ayroso
Marie Oslenica Balajadia
Mica Rose Bajade
Aimee Rose Biscante

Submitted to:
Mr. Arthur Jerome Gan
Instructor

DESCRIPTION AND RATIONALE

• This lesson discusses the Fundamental Principles of Philosophy

and Bioethics that are utilized in the professional setting.

• Every aspect of medical practice is governed by sets of ethical

standards that are to be followed. In order to understand the
 context of Bioethics, students should be familiar to philosophical
domains, since the latter will enable them to seek the truth out
of these bioethical issues to impersonality and impartiality.

• The content of this lesson will give students a perspective on

how philosophy affects the action and decision-making and
capability of the students in any setting.

OBJECTIVES

• Define Philosophy and trace its history

• Explain the nature of man
• Differentiate professional ethics and bioethics and identify its
role and objectives with regard to nursing practice/and duty.
• And, analyze and discuss the relationship of negligence and
malpractice to professional ethics.

SCOPE
1. Nature of Philosophy
2. History of Philosophy
3. Philosophy in man
4. The concept of Professional ethics and bioethics
5. Norms of Human Acts
6. Prescribed Ethics among Professional Nurses
7. Fundamentals of negligence and malpractice in relation to
professional ethics

NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy – Thinking

• The act of questioning or wanting to know initiates philosophy, and

most of the time, we relate philosophy to thinking.
• Philosophy comes from the Greek words philos meaning love and
sophia meaning wisdom. It means “the love of wisdom”.

• Love of wisdom – to the task that requires a deliberate effort to seek

the truth.

• Philosophy is a systematic body of knowledge which is not only based

on opinions, hypothesis and theories, but on ideal knowledge.

• Philosopher – lover of knowledge; a person who seeks knowledge for

its own sake and not for any other motive.

• Generally – philosophy is defined as the knowledge of all things

through these ultimate causes, acquired through the use of reasoning.
Its main objective is to seek the deepest explanation of existence and
the nature of being. It specifically uses reasoning to show its natural
scope in deriving those explanations.

BRIEF HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

Ancient/Pre Socratic (7th Century B.C.)

• Great thinkers called themselves “wise men”, but out of humility.

 • Pythagoras – (one of the Greek thinkers), wanted to call himself a
person who just love wisdom or a “philosopher”. From then on,
Greek used the word philosophy for love of wisdom and philosopher
as a lover of that wisdom.

Medieval / Middle Ages

• Christian Scholars and Arab philosophers – First philosophers who

directly linked philosophy to theology, one of its main inspirations in
the Christian Faith which became a stimulus to reason.

Modern (17th – 18th Century A.D.)

• Rene Descartes – was known as the Father of Modern Philosophy,

to his philosophy of rationalism and empiricism
• Rationalism – a philosophical Doctrine that specifically uses
reasoning and proof in explaining reality.
• Empiricism – regards experience as the only source of knowledge.
• It was during this time that the abundance of knowledge in science
became a challenge for all philosophers to prove their discoveries
and breakthrough to the aid of the aforementioned doctrines.

Contemporary (20th Century)

• The existence of a great variety of doctrine of philosophy
strengthened its grasp in seeking the truth, Among these are the
doctrines of Marxism by Karl Marx, Kantianism by Immanuel
Kant and Essentialism by Jean Paul Sarte.

• The succeeding philosophies further discussed the use of inductive

and deductive reasoning to prove their theories. These philosophies
were developed among the ideas and perceptions of the discoveries
themselves which geared in leading people towards progress and
development.

PHILOSOPHY AND THE NATURE OF MAN

1. As a living organism, man is capable of:

 – Feeding himself for nutrition.
– Growing
– Reproducing in order to preserve hi race.

2. As an organism to senses, man acquires sensory knowledge

through:

2.1 External Senses e.q.

– Smell, taste and touch for nutrition.
– Hearing and sigh for cignition
2.2Internal Senses e.q.
– Consciousness – awareness of sensation and the operation of
external senses.
– Imagination – form of mental images or perceived objects that
are reproduced even in their absence.
– Memory – ability to recall past objects and states of
consciousness.
– Instincts – actions conducive to the well being of the person.

3. As an organism to senses, man tends to be aware of good things

through his emotions.

4. As a rational organism to senses, man acquires knowledge by using

his free will in judging and reasoning.

5. As an intellectual organism, man uses his conscience to do practical

judgment in choosing a good from an evil action.

THE CONCEPT OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND BIOETHICS

What is Ethics?
 • Ethics comes from the Greek word Ethos meaning characteristic way of
acting and in Latin word Mos, morrs meaning way of acting.

• Ethics is a study of human acts or conduct from a moral perspective as

to whether they are good or they are bad.

• We commonly associated ethics to customs, morals and etiquette and

even used them interchangeably.

 Customs are acts approved by a group or society.

 Etiquette social observance required by good breeding.
(i.e. table manners, dress codes)

Parts of Ethics

• General Ethics – deals with the basic principles which are the
morality of human acts.
• Social Ethics – tackles the basic principles in the life of man as a
member of the society.

Objectives of Ethics

• To make clear to us why one act is better than another.

• To live an orderly social life.
• To appraise and criticize intelligently the moral conduct and ethical
system.
• To seek the true value of life.

• Professional Ethics – branch of moral science that treats of the

obligations which a member of a profession owes to the public, to his
profession and to his clients.

What is Bioethics?
• Bios + ethics
↓ ↓
Life way of acting

• Bioethics – is the term used to describe the application of ethics to

biological sciences, medicine and related fields.

• It is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about

by advances in biology and medicine.

• It is a systematic study of moral conduct in life sciences and

medicines.

• For M.T. Reich, it is a systematic study of human behavior, specifically,

in the fields of life sciences and health care, as examined in the light of
moral values and principles.

• Bioethics is ethics to a special focus on challenges arising from modern

biotechnology.

Biotechnology is any technology using micro-organism or

biological materials for technological purposes (example is modifying
things for better quality, cloning).
SCOPE OF BIOETHICS

• In its initial stages, bioethics was concerned with ethical problems

associated to medical practices but later, the subjects matter was
broadened to include all biosciences. Bioethics does not deal only but
solely to the doctor-patience of relationship from a moral stand point, but
it expanded to social issues related to health, animal welfare,
environmental concerns, however, biomedical ethics remains central to
this paradigmatic discipline.

• The problem of bioethics has something to do to the challenges posted by

the biotechnological advances and its power over life and death.

• In our study we will deal to the questions about human life in 3 different
points.
– The beginning of life (Contraception and Family Planning)
– In the midst of life (Genetic Engineering and Abortion_
– At the end of life (Death penalty and Euthanasia)

• The field of bioethics addresses a broad swath of human inquiry, ranging

from debates over the boundaries of life (e.g. abortion, euthanasia) to the
allocation of scarce health care resources (e.g. organ donation, health
care rationing) to the right to turn down medical care for religious or
cultural reasons.

IMPORTANCE OR SIGNIFICANCE OF BIOETHICS

1. To provide awareness to the health team or workers of the “do’s and

don’ts” of medical practice.

2. To enrich one’s competence by understanding that the patient is a

person and a holistic individual.

– This field of study was developed in countries that had to face

many ethical challenges due to the bioscientific
developments, but the same moral problem challenges us
even in the Philippines. As medical interventions became
more powerful, ethical problems associated to medical and
health practices also grow.
 – Along this line of development, it is vital for every member of
the health profession to be acquainted to ethical principles
involved in the biomedical procedures. Biological sciences will
continue to grow, as it will, there is a great need for us to take
a moral stand on these “development”. Indeed, no end is in
sight for the need of health professionals who are conversant
to bioethics, for they alone will be the most efficient and
effective, at the same time morally responsible health service
provider.

NORMS OF HUMAN ACTS

• These are directives or guides in making decisions on what we ought to

do or to be.

a. Law – an ordinance of reason, promulgated for the common good by

one who has legitimate authority. It is an authoritative order that
should be just, honest, possible of fulfillment, useful, to a certain
degrees of permanency and promulgated or made known to the
subject.
b. Conscience – the practical judgment of reason upon an individual act
as good and to be performed or as evil and to be avoided.

IMPORTANT CLASSES OF LAWS

a. Eternal Law – It is God’s eternal plan and providence for the universe.
It is the diverse reason or will commanding the preservation of the
natural order of things and forbidding its disturbance. According to St.
Thomas, it is the plan flowing from God’s wisdom directing all acts and
movements.

b. Natural Law – it is the eternal law as known to human through

reason. It is nothing than the rational creatures’ participation in the
eternal law of God and Human comes to the knowledge of this law by
natural light of his/her reason. e.g. do good and avoid evil. (St.
Thomas)

• The reason why it is called Natural is because it is neither

communicated in a supernatural way, nor a result of a command of a
legislative or authority. The precept of natural law is found and derived
for the very nature of human beings.
 PROPERTIES OF NATURAL LAW

a. Universality – the natural moral law binds every person at all times
and in all places or its basis is the very nature of human. One cannot
remain ignorant of the natural law, at least not of its basic precepts.
However, human beings do not possess the knowledge of this law, in a
fully developed form from the beginning. She or he must develop it just
as the development of other forms of knowledge. E.g. respect for life
b. Immutability – as soon as the human being has the capacity of using
his/her reason, certain fundamental norms will become self-evident to
humans. These fundamental norms are imprinted in human nature, so
that they exist as long as human nature exists. The genuine commands
and prohibitions of natural law cannot be changed.
c. Indispensability – no one is dispended or excused in the observance
of the natural law. Why? Because, the origin of natural law is God.
Natural law is identical to God’s will. Evidently, human has no authority
over a law of this status. This means that if there is dispensation of this
law, there is a violation in God’s Law.
TYPES OF NATURAL LAW AS PRESENTED OR FORBID AN ACT

1. Affirmative – laws which bind always, but not at very moment. It

states that human is morally obliged to adopt all ordinary means of
preserving health and life. However, not morally obliged to adopt
extraordinary means of preserving life, except if the point is not
spiritually prepared for death. Humans may adopt extraordinary
means to conserve health and life. If it appears to be useful,
desirable and prudent thing to do.
2. Negative – laws that are prohibitory. These are laws of the natural
order, which bind always and at every moment. It states that no act
– (+) or (-). Maybe directly, deliberately willed as a means of
destroying health or life.

At this point, it is good that we identify the ordinary from

extraordinary means of preserving life, from the standpoints of
physicians and moralists.

VIEWPOINTS ORDINARY MEANS EXTRAORDINARY

MEANS
PHYSICIANS Standard, recognized, A medicine or

established medicines procedure that might be

or procedure of the fanciful, bizarre,

 period at the level of experimental,

medical practice. incompletely

establishes and not

recognized.
MORALISTS Include not only normal All medicines,

food, drink and rest but treatments and

also in terms of hospital operations which cannot

practice, all medicines be obtained or used of

and treatment excessive expense, pain

procedures which offer or other inconvenience

reasonable hope or for the point or for

benefit for the patient others, or which if used

which can be obtained would offer a reasonable

and used of excessive hope for the point.

expense, pain or other

inconvenience.

3. HUMAN POSITIVE LAW

• Law enhanced by the church or state.

• An ordinance of reason derived from the natural law or making a
concrete and determinate application of the natural law, promulgated
for the common good by a human institution in charge of society.

Note: Whenever we perform actions that are in conformity to the

law, it is good. We are talking now of laws that are also morally
sound, this will guide us not only to become citizens who abide to
certain rules but also develop us to become moral individuals. The
knowledge on the different aspects of laws will enable us to become
more careful in following the norms to fulfill our duty in the
preservation of human life.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

• It is a branch of moral science which treats of the obligations which a

member of a profession owes to the public, to his / her clients.
• A professional medical ethics expresses responsibility in medical codes
and ethical treatises. All socially authorized professional power requires
a public accountability, and this is especially true of medical or
community health professional power.

MALPRACTICE AND NEGLIGENCE

• Malpractice – any professional misconduct or any unreasonable lack

of skill or fidelity in the performance of professional or fiduciary duties.

• Profit Negligence – doing failure to do that action which a reasonably

prudent person would have done or would have not done in like or
similar circumstance.

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

Note: Before one is accused of negligence, there are certain

elements that should be present. If one of these is not present,
negligence cannot be declared:

1. Existence of duty – there must be a moral obligation incumbent upon

the person of doing or omitting something as mandated by her/his
profession.

2. Failure to perform the duty – one fails to respond the call of his/her
profession.

3. Injury resulting from failure – there was a grave harm that results
from not doing his/her duty or from doing the wrong thing due to lack
of knowledge.
 Note: It is therefore very important to a member of a certain
profession, to know his/her rights and duties as a professional.