Ethical Decision-Making in Physical Therapy

  By Susan McPhail Wittjen, PT, PhD

Virtue ethics 

In virtue ethics the judgment or the character of the person is considered the most basic guide to decision-making. Further, according to Aristotle in 300 BCE a right action must be motivated correctly from the right frame of mind. In other words, the proper motivation of an action is necessary to make it virtuous. Although there are debates regarding the identification of virtues, Beauchamp and Childress have chosen the four virtues of compassion, discernment, trustworthiness, and integrity as important for health care professionals. Courage to make and carry out decisions in health care is also necessary. When it is difficult to discern whether the consequences of the choice or your duty should be used to make a decision, moral virtue can help guide you in the right direction. People of virtue tend to be trusted. They exhibit generous, caring, compassionate, sympathetic, and fair actions with integrity. While virtuous persons may not always make good ethical decisions, decision-making is more complete if virtues and moral motives are included with discussions of the traditional theories of teleology and deontology.

Earlier we discussed the difference between keeping a patient's medical records confidential from a legal and ethical perspective. If you are motivated to maintain a patient's confidentiality or privacy because you believe that the patient deserves your respect, rather than out of fear of the consequences if you do not do so, then you are using your moral virtue to help you make decisions.

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