Issues in biomedical ethics

Bioethics is the discipline of ethics dealing with moral problems arising in the practice of medicine and the pursuit of biomedical research. Physicians may confront ethical dilemmas regularly in their individual relationships with patients and in institutional and societal decisions on health care policy. Ethical problem solving requires the application of certain ethical rules and principles to specific situations. Although ethical theories differ, certain ethical rules and principles appear consistently. These include nonmaleficence, beneficence, respect for individual autonomy, confidentiality, and justice. This article discusses some of the ethical issues that arise in clinical practice, including informed consent, do-not-resuscitate orders, noninitiation and termination of medical therapy, genetic intervention, allocation of scarce health resources, and infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Some of these problems require ethical analysis at the bedside; others require physician involvement on a broader level. Perspectives on the different ethical issues are presented; however, absolute answers to these ethical dilemmas are not provided. Interpretation of the ethical principles and the application of these principles to each clinical situation demands the thoughtful attention of the practitioner.