ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which ethical issues are part of the practice of medicine. It looks at a number of ethical theories and concepts and the ways in which they might relate to medicine. The chapter considers the doctor–patient relationship and the way in which medicine has given rise to particular ways of describing this relationship and its ethical implications. Peter Singer describes his own version of utilitarianism, which he claims springs from the universal aspect of ethics. The principle of self-determination is frequently asserted in medical law and ethics. The discussion of medical ethics has tended to highlight the dramatic issues which happen to be topical at any one time. A criticism of traditional medical ethics is that it tends to underestimate the fact that medical decisions ought to be made in the real world of technological and economic facts. A fundamental starting point in discussions about ethics is universalisation.
