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Ethics is the application of values and moral rules to human / animal activities. Bioethics is a subsection of ethics, actually a part of applied ethics that uses ethical principles and decision making to solve actual or anticipated dilemmas in medicine and biology. Ethics seeks to find reasoned, consistent, and defensible solutions to moral problems.
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Clinical bio-ethical reasoning is primarily case based while bio-ethical reasoning relies on learned and accepted moral rules, prior bio-ethical decisions derived from thoughtful reflection and recognition of unique factors in individual situations that differentiate one case from another. Clinicians are obligated to make patient-centered, value-driven ethical decisions.
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Ethical dicta have existed since ancient time, have evolved over time, incorporate basic societal values, and form the basis for policy development within health care as well as in other parts of society. Ethics incorporates the broad values and beliefs of correct conduct. Although bio-ethical principles do not change because of geography, interpretation of the principles may evolve as societies change. Societal values are incorporated into ethical principles and they are basic to society. Ethical analysis use case-based reasoning in an attempt to achieve consistency. Bioethics consultations are flexible enough to conform to the needs of each institution and circumstance, and, rather than being adversarial, are designed to assist all parties involved in the process. Bioethics, although based on principles, is designed to weigh every specific situation on its own merits. Bioethics relies heavily on the individual person’s values – the patients’ or their owners’. Also, even without the intervention of trained bioethicsts, medical personnel can and often should be able to make ethically sound decisions.
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In homogenous societies, religions have long been the arbiters of ethical norms. In multicultural societies, with no single religion holding sway over the entire populace, a patient (animal / bird) value-based approach to ethical issues is necessary. Modern bioethics uses many decision-making methods, arguments, and ideals that originated from religion. In addition, clinicians’ personal spirituality may allow them to relate better to patients and families in crisis. Although various religions may appear dissimilar, most have a form of the Golden Rule, or a basic tenet that holds, " do unto others as you would have them do unto you. " Moral rules govern actions that are immoral to do without an adequate moral reason and can justifiably be enforced and their violation punished. Although none of these rules is absolute, they all require one to not cause evil to the animals / birds and its owner.
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Problems surface when trying to apply religion-based rules to specific bio-ethical situations. For example, although "do not kill" is generally accepted, the interpretation of the activities that constitute killing, active or passive euthanasia, or merely reasonable medical care vary with the world’s religions, as they do among various philosophers. Therefore several generally accepted secular principles have emerged, such as autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and fairness, which have guided ethical thinking over the past three decades.
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