Why ‘Meaning’ in Health Care?

Abstract

Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that applies values to the practice of clinical medicine and to scientific research. They are based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the event that they are in conflict or are confused. The values include: beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, veracity, dignity. The code of ethics is based on the understanding of the goals of medicine dating back to the 5th century B.C. and Hippocrates. By 1847, the code of ethics was based greatly on Thomas Percival’s work. He was an English physician-philosopher and wrote a code of medical ethics for hospitals in 1803. Hippocrates is important in the discussion of the meaning of meaning and the meaning of medical ethics, because he provided the drive to make the public understand that medicine was based on science and not on magical or religious activities that were used so often. Even so, those writings were put away and were not rediscovered until the Renaissance period in the early 16th century. It was John Gregory, an 18th century physician and moralist, in Edinburgh who published his lectures in which he redefined medical humanism in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment of philosophers, such as David Hume. These writings opposed the work of Thomas Hobbes who’s ‘Leviathan’ is considered by many as significant as the political writings of Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, and Rawls. Gregory, like Hippocrates, wanted to set medicine apart and argued that medicine incorporated the ideal that physicians were empathetic and their practice was based on medical science. The medical code of ethics is a living document, which means that it grows and evolves as new information is gained. The first edition came about in 1847. It did not change very much until 1903 when the language was updated. It was retitled to “Principles of Medical Ethics.” It was again updated in 1949 and again in 1957. Minor changes were made in 1980. The 1957 version adopted a preamble along with 10 statements of core values and commitments. The Judicial Council was given the authority of interpreting the ethical Principles.