Definitions

We often hear about “medical ethics.”  However, it is often associated with issues that may primarily involve decisions that physicians make about their patients.  Therefore many people do not understand that physical therapists and physical therapist assistants also owe ethical obligations to their patients and make many decisions involving ethical issues.  The term “bioethics” has connotations of a depersonalized study of ethics and does not sufficiently reflect the central position of the patient in ethical deliberations.  The term “health care ethics” will be used in this course because it more accurately reflects the interdependent nature of health care.  That is, all persons who practice or work in the health care environment make decisions that affect patients.  How these decisions are made have ethical ramifications.  Further, by having “care” as the central word in the phrase “health care ethics,” the importance of our caring role with the patient is emphasized.

Before reading further in this course, it would be beneficial for you to stop and write your definition of the terms ethics and morality.  It is important that you reflect for a moment on your own perspective regarding what health care ethics means before reading a definition.     

Morality involves how we determine what is right and wrong or good and bad.  Society at large also must grapple with issues of right and wrong.  Of course, we do not always agree about things in society, and it may be difficult for us to arrive at a consensus on particular topics.  However, society does tend to agree upon the importance of some basic moral ideals, values, and basic rights, such as issues involving freedom.  Culture, religion, and family background will influence our sense of morality, that is, how we developed our sense of right and wrong.  We should also remember that our norms regarding morality might change over time.  Think of how we have changed in our values and treatment regarding women and persons of color during the last century.  Because there are many different cultural influences in our society and because there are variations in beliefs, those who work in health care should be aware and sensitive to the beliefs of others, especially our patients.

Ethics is a systematic way of looking at morality.  Basically, ethics will be used in this course as choosing the right or wrong action.   It is not a goal of this course to tell you exactly what decisions you should make in specific situations, for that would be impossible.  Every patient, situation, and dilemma involves variables that must be considered individually.  You may think that since you are a moral and ethical person that you do not need to study ethics, but we study ethics so that we may be better prepared to make decisions about difficult situations that we encounter in the health care environment.  Studying ethics should help you make decisions based on analysis and reflection rather than on an emotional response.  Just like any other treatment technique, the more we know and practice, the better prepared we will be when we become involved in an ethical dilemma.