Notes Towards a Professional Ethics for Psychiatry

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Radden
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Boundary Violations

Objective: The uniqueness of psychiatry calls for a unique ethics. By identifying the features distinguishing psychiatry as medical and social practice, this article seeks to illustrate the methodology by which that ethics can be derived and to determine what kind of a framework and focus such an ethics requires. Method: The author is an analytically trained philosopher and employs the method of conceptual analysis. Results: At least three characteristics are suggested by the features which taken together constitute psychiatry's uniqueness: an ethical framework accommodating character, a rubric for acknowledging boundary violations, and an emphasis on gender. Conclusions: The larger task of formulating the substance and details of that unique ethics is the next step.

scholarly journals Ethics and auditing: Setting the bar too low

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-561
Author(s):  
Keith Hooper ◽  
Jenny Wang
Keyword(s):  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Financial Statements ◽  
Social Darwinism ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Accounting Firms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Audit Firms ◽  
Empirical Perspective

Purpose - from a philosophical and empirical perspective this paper seeks to show how the big audit firms have managed to set the bar low so that they offer only opinions on whether financial statements meet accounting standards. It is argued that while the concepts of virtue ethics have now largely disappeared, ethical legitimacy has moved beyond consequential ethics to a form of social Darwinism. It is a Social Darwinism that is legalistic and technical as evidenced by the audit firms’ widespread use of the Bannerman clause attached to their opinions. Design - to illustrate the shift of ethical positions, the paper is informed illustrations of a failure to discharge a duty of care to the public. Findings – the shift in underlying social values contributes to what the Economist Journal describes as a steady decline in professional ethics. This arguable conclusion is supported by various illustrations and cites the shift in combinations of cognitive, moral and pragmatic legitimacy as drivers employed by accounting firms. Research Limitations – the paper uses secondary and documentary data and is informed by conceptual analysis which necessarily in the realm of ethics may be contentious. Originality – the paper seeks to link the changing social values with changes in legitimisation and to show shifts in accounting practices like the recent practice of issuing disclaimers.

scholarly journals War in the 21st century as a tool of the imperial control of planetary “periphery”

2018 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-431
Author(s):  
Srdjan Korac
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
International Society ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Control Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Defensive Role ◽  
State Actors

The paper analyses how the (mis)use of the concept of international society in the context of the US and other Western countries` foreign policies legitimises an alleged defensive role of the interventionist imperial policy towards rogue, weak and failed states, as well as towards various non-state actors who contest the universality of liberal order. The starting assumption is that the asymmetric character of armed conflicts in the late 20th and early 21st century - combined with notions of international society, democratic peace, and world division into the ?civilised? (liberal) centre and ?uncivilised? periphery - has conditioned the planning and waging wars as disciplinary tools of the Western imperial control policy which is asserted over planetary periphery. The analysis focuses on several indicators which reveal how the methodology of the policing, the criminal justice system and the penalty system is embedded into the ontology of military interventions pursued by the United States, alone or within ad hoc coalitions with other Western and/or regional powers. The author concludes that war as a social practice lost in the early 21st century its traditional ontological features by assuming the structural characteristics of crime control policy, which caused the disruption of the ethical framework in the discursive and practical treatment of hostile states and their soldiers and non-state actors.

scholarly journals Professional ethics of recommendations: implications for COVID-19 vaccination of women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
F. A. Chervenak ◽  
L. B. McCullough ◽  
A. Grunebaum
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Obstetrics And Gynecology ◽  
Specific Topic ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
National Governments

There has been changing guidance from national and international professional associations, national and international non-governmental organizations, and health officials in national governments for obstetrician-gynecologists about COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant. in this paper, we provide an ethical framework that provides the needed guidance to decision making about recommending COVID-19 vaccination to these patients. the unique feature of this ethical framework is that it is based on professional ethics in obstetrics and gynecology. We begin with an account of three key components of professional ethics in obstetrics and gynecology and how they are pertinent to the ethics of making recommendations that should be understood in obstetric and gynecologic practice generally. We then identify the implications of this overview for the specific topic of the ethics of recommending COVID-19 vaccination.

Professional Ethics in Obstetric Practice, Innovation, and Research

2021 ◽  
pp. 197-211
Author(s):  
Frank A. Chervenak ◽  
Laurence B. McCullough
Keyword(s):  
Medical Ethics ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Home Birth ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Obstetric Practice ◽  
Ethical Concept ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Planned Home Birth

Obstetric clinical practice, innovation, and research should be guided by professional ethics in obstetrics. In this chapter, the authors distinguish professional medical ethics from medical ethics and bioethics. They set out an ethical framework for obstetrics based on the invention of professional medical ethics by two eighteenth-century physician-ethicists, John Gregory (1724–1773) and Thomas Percival (1740–1804). Professional ethics in obstetrics appeals to the ethical principles of beneficence and respect for autonomy and the ethical concept of the fetus as a patient. This framework is deployed to provide ethically justified, practical guidance about two ethical challenges in obstetric practice: the professionally responsible role of nondirective counseling of pregnant women about induced abortion and the professionally responsible role of directive counseling about planned home birth. This framework is also deployed to provide ethically justified, practical guidance about professionally responsible obstetric innovation and research for fetal benefit.

scholarly journals Fear of Life, Fear of Death, and Fear of Causing Death: How Legislative Changes on Assisted Dying Are Doomed to Fail

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-153
Author(s):  
MATTI HÄYRY
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Medical Condition ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Legislative Reforms ◽  
Legislative Changes ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
The Impact

Abstract:Fear of life, fear of death, and fear of causing death form a combination that prevents reasoned changes in laws concerning end-of-life situations. This is shown systematically in this article using the methods of conceptual analysis. Prevalent fears are explicated and interpreted to see how their meanings differ depending on the chosen normative stance. When the meanings have been clarified, the impact of the fears on the motivations and justifications of potential legislative reforms are assessed. Two main normative stances are evoked. The first makes an appeal to individual self-determination, or autonomy, and the second to the traditional professional ethics of physicians. These views partly share qualifying elements, including incurability and irreversibility of the patient’s medical condition, proximity of death, the unbearable nature of suffering, and issues of voluntariness further shade the matter. The conclusion is that although many motives to change end-of-life laws are admirable, they are partly contradictory, as are calls for autonomy and appeals to professional ethics; to a degree that good, principled legislative solutions remain improbable in the foreseeable future.

scholarly journals Questions of ethics and etiquette in the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh, 1853–1951

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy A Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Professional Conduct ◽  
Accounting Profession ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Current Concerns

The intangible qualities of honesty and integrity are essential elements of the ethos of the accounting profession. This article reflects on the changing and continuous nature of questions of professional ethics within the Society of Accountants in Edinburgh. Using the Society’s archives, it presents a review of the questions which vexed early leaders of that body. A historical analysis of these issues helps place current concerns about professional conduct into an appropriate temporal perspective and demonstrates the deep-rooted nature of challenges in forming a notion of professional ethics. The article focusses on issues such as members committing criminal acts, problems with delineating the professional space, advertising and the quality of training of apprentice accountants. The article adds to our understanding of the creation of an ethical framework governing the behaviour of professional accountants in one jurisdiction during the first century of the existence of an organised profession. The presentation of individual cases provides a personal touch and adds depth to the analysis.

Ethics in the Immunization of the Cuban People against COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel de Jesús Verdecia Tamayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Elderly Women ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right ◽  
Fundamental Values

Covid-19 has raised multiple topics for reflection; among them is the problem of vaccination against such a pandemic. The article seeks to reveal that the Cuban strategy for immunizing the population against this epidemic is based on ethics, whose touchstone outlines the ethical framework that supports decision-making regarding this process and its implementation in social practice. Although immunization has its own principles and norms, in its application against this disease, due to its purposes and scope, moral principles and fundamental rights are applied specifically to benefit all people: girls, boys, the elderly, women and men. The Cuban case constitutes a benchmark to determine what is fair and what is good in safeguarding the fundamental values that are at stake and are essential for everyone, in the face of Covid-19, such as the right to life and health.

scholarly journals Engaging Ethicists in Animal Research Policymaking

ILAR Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela N Hvitved
Keyword(s):  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Animal Research ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Human Subjects Research ◽  
Deliberative Process ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Key Stakeholders

Abstract The significance of ethical considerations for animal research policy has long been acknowledged, but the role of philosophical ethics in the policymaking process has been less clear. By comparing the ethical framework of animal research policy with that for human subjects research, this article considers how the legacies of these two policy areas influence current policy and suggests that ethicists and ethical scholarship have been underutilized in developing animal research policy. An important aspect of policymaking is gathering and responding to input provided by various stakeholders. Given their expertise in a highly relevant area, ethicists should be considered key stakeholders in animal research policy deliberations. This article explores the role of ethicists and ethical scholarship in influencing animal research policy and suggests that a more robust engagement with the professional ethics community throughout the deliberative process is vital for policymakers to adequately account for ethical considerations.

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