ABSTRACT
Principles of Medical Ethics Today, there are several different philosophical frameworks for deriving the rules or particulars of medical ethics. Historically the foremost ethical principle of medicine has been beneficence and its corollary, nonmaleficence, from which we understand our duty to do good for the patient and to avoid and prevent harm. One contemporary framework is principalism. Proposed by Beauchamp and Childress, principalism, although not necessarily providing bedside guidance for each ethical dilemma, provides a useful delineation of four prima facie (at face value) principles that encompass most of the ethical concerns in the physician-patient relationship. These principles are: 1) autonomy, 2) beneficence, 3) nonmaleficence, and 4) justice.
