Humanity at the Heart of Practice

Humans are the only beings in the world who are concerned with what ought to be done. They perceive the impact of another human’s action as good or evil, moral or immoral. Healthcare is humans caring for other vulnerable humans and ethics evaluates the way humans treat each other, so follows logically that this book about ethical decision-making in healthcare uses humanity as its organizing structure.

The book begins by considering values and good reasoning. Philosophy is concerned with what can be known through the power of human reason, so we need to consider what it is to know, to grasp concepts and to use good reasoning to make arguments. It then discusses what it is to be a being in the world, looking at both nature and human nature, and considers the professional and the patient. The volume then explores making good ethical choices and the use of theoretical ethics to evaluate what the good choice is. It also details issues at the beginning and end of life and concerns related to healthcare as a business.

It will allow the reader to make decisions in moral situations through the application of principles of philosophical ethics, to understand the foundations of the philosophical principles they find compatible with their personal informal moral development, and to resolve ethical dilemmas into their essential components using a provided framework to make clear the conflicting values, policies, or principles to move to a principle-based solution.