Care ethics in medical practice - Essay Example

Ethics A virtue is a trait of character that an individual manifests in habitual actions that are good. Virtue ethics is a framework that has focus on emotional elements of the human actions instead of the rightness of that action. Moral dilemmas in medicine usually use this framework for analysis although it is not clear on the ways to judge the best consequences. The virtue theory offers an ethical analysis that encourages solutions that are more flexible and creative than the principles alone.

Virtue theory puts into consideration the emotional sensitivities and relationships that have some uniqueness towards the human society (Schrems 336). Care ethics or virtue theory helps us think of virtues in medical practice and research in diverse ways. The healthcare professionals are expected to always be motivated to improve the patients’ wellbeing. The professionals are expected to balance the knowledge they have with the preference of the patients. They are expected to consider the means by which a patient has used to make a choice to make sure that there is no transgressing on the medical moral code.

The doctors get bound by codes of practice that have a strong emphasis on doing the best and saving lives. The codes of practice that doctors observe make are a commitment to virtuous behavior (Adams 65). The virtues of medical practice invoke compassion in the doctors. The doctors have emotional response and sympathy towards other people suffering. Virtues of medical practice also instill trustworthiness between the patients and doctors. Patients allow doctors into their deepest and most intimate problems and they rely on the moral character of the doctor.

The patients allow doctors to impose medical solutions upon them (Schrems 340). Virtue ethics attracts flexibility in how a doctor assesses every situation, through looking for guidance from considering what a virtuous person does. Virtue ethics encourages doctors to make creative solutions, especially to hard problems that do not have solutions through applying principles. For example, a patient who is 19 years old from a Jehovah witness family requires blood transfusion, but the community does not allow blood transfusion.

Therefore, he is obligated to make decisions because of his parents’ faith system yet not believing in it, the doctor should take a moral assessment that is different. According to the doctor’s code of ethics, a different action on such a case is virtuous. Virtue ethics recognizes the importance of emotions in medical moral perception. It considers motivation to be of great importance. Since there are no set rules that should be obeyed, any choices are adaptable to various situations that doctors find themselves in.

virtue theory helps in recognition of the fact that there is no way a dilemma can be solved in satisfaction of all parties. It enhances how doctors approach moral dilemmas in their profession. Virtues play a great role in medical profession and research. The virtues that professionals have keep the patients with hope that they will receive the best treatment. They make the interactions between doctors and patients successful. For example, a patient will expect that a doctor will respect her when examining her private parts not because of the knowledge, he has, but because of the virtues, he has.

Virtues of medical practice ensure continuity in professional growth and commitment to the profession. The virtue theory helps us understand on the importance of virtues such as honesty and integrity in healthcare and research (Adams 66). Works Cited Adams, John. "Nurse Prescribing Ethics and Medical Marketing." Nursing Standard 25.29 (2011): 62-66, 2011. Schrems, Berta M. "Mind The Gaps In Ethical Regulations Of Nursing Research." Nursing Ethics 20.3 (2013): 336-347, 2013.