Health Care Ethics

Dr. Richman

Final Review Sheet

Fall 2010

The final examination will test working knowledge of the material noted below. Working
knowledge is the ability to recognize, define and apply concepts, skills and theories
using appropriate vocabulary. It also includes the ability to judge when to apply a
concept, skill or theory in approaching an issue or scenario. Other knowledge, skills
and theories will also be helpful in excelling on the examination. The final will be a
closed-book examination.

The examination will consist of 15 short answer questions and 1 essay question with a
limited choice of topics. For the essay question, organization, completeness and clarity
of expression in English will be important factors for grading.

THEORY

Normativity: claims that are value-laden…ie. more emotional

moral valences: permissible, impermissible, obligatory
Dilemmas and prima facie duties
Deontology: the moral value of an action depends on what type of action it is. (ie. what
counts is what specific action the agent is attempting to perform.)

Kantian moral theory:

First Formulation of Kant’s Categorical Imperative: Act only in such a way that
you could will the maxim of your action to be universal law.
Related ideas:
o Autonomous action
Informed consent and autonomy: consent is autonomous if it is consistent
with a patient’s previous choices
o Rational beings as sui juris: self governing
o Moral agents as self-legislating
Second Formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative: Treat humanity, whether in
yourself or in others, always as an end in itself and never as a means only.
Distinction: acting out of duty (from duty) vs. acting merely in accordance with duty

consequentialism
utilitarianism: ???
principle of utility:
principle of indifference:
Final Review Sheet 2

act utilitarianism
rule utilitarianism

Theories of justice: How should burdens and benefits be distributed in a society?

Principle of equality: everyone is to be treated the same in all respects
Principle of Need: Everyone is to be given enough to meet their basic needs…brings
everyone to equal level from wherever they started
Principle of Contribution: everyone should get back that proportion of social goods
that is the result of his/her productive labor…get back what you put in
Principle of Effort: flipside of Principle of Contribution where everyone should get back
in proportion to the effort they make

Socialist Principle of Distributive Justice: in you have resource, you must contribute
From each according to her ability,
to each according to her need.
Laissez-Faire Principle of Distributive Justice:if you don’t feel like giving, don’t. Not
wrong, you just won’t get anything in return.
From each according to her choice (given her assets),
to each according to her contribution.

for scarce life-saving resources:

save the most lives
life cycle
life cycle with investment refinement

METHOD
Logic
Truth value: is it true or false?...that’s it
Proposition: a sentence expressing if something is true or false.
Argument: a set of premises that support a conclusion
Validity: no loopholes in an argument
Soundness
Fallacy

Stakeholder analysis

TOPICS
Ethical issues in genetics:
The effort to improve the gene pool in a population is called eugenics.
positive eugenics: increase presence of deired trait…eg. Good looks
negative eugenics: decrease presence of undesired traits…eg. Ugly
looks

In vitro fertilization (IVF)

Final Review Sheet 3

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos (PGD): procedures that are

performed on embryos prior to implantation…that…makes it highly likely that the
baby will be free of the disease under consideration.
Selective abortion: evacute vag of tainted fetus post amniocentesis

Savulescu on…
procreative beneficence: use all info available to choose the option most likely to bring
about the best option…includes non-disease states
procreative autonomy: the liberty to decide when and how to have children according
to what parents judge is best.

Who owns my genetic information?

The personal account model: Each person’s information belongs to her ad her alone
The joint account model: Some information such as genetic info belongs to more than
one person

The majority and minority opinions in Tarasoff vs the Regents of the University of
California

Hope on preventive detention ???

Calculating the value of a policy/treatment decision in life-years or QALYs (quality-

adjusted life years) and how an idealized rational agent discounts for quality of life and
probability of outcomes.

Hope on “Why undervaluing statistical people costs lives”

Hope on the Rule of Rescue and “enlarging our moral imagination”

Dwyer on social justice

The Whitehall Study

Overt, covert and institutional racism, sexism and classism

Card on conscientious objection and refusal to dispense emergency contraception

Thompson’s definition of conflict of interest