MORAL ASPECTS OF MEDICAL ACTIVITY: PROBLEMS OF FREEDOM OF MORAL CHOICE, RESPONSIBILITY, DUTY

Abstract

Annotation: The article is devoted to the moral problems of modern medicine caused by the "challenge" to all mankind by the coronavirus pandemic, when the problems of duty, freedom of moral choice and responsibility have become particularly relevant. The authors believe that the medical ethos as a set of moral principles of the medical community as a whole is determined by the requirements of duty as the realization of the doctor's responsibility for his free choice. In this regard, the standards of the medical community are coordinated with moral ideals, which requires subordination of subjective interests and desires to them. The authors come to the conclusion that the resolution of contradictions between personal interests and moral (and professional) duty should be carried out on the basis of the free choice of a medical professional responsible for this choice. In line with the recognition of human life as the highest value, the duty of a physician, correlated with responsibility, consists in moral self-restraint, regulating one's own activities with humanistic ideals and norms, which are designed to become the main internal regulations of the activities of each medical worker. Keywords: pandemic challenge, medical ethos, moral choice, professional, moral and legal responsibility, moral duty