Citation

Clements CD. Psychiatr. Q. 1992; 63(4): 367-390.

Affiliation

University of Rochester, School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New York 14642.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1992, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1475330

Abstract

This paper reviews the current conclusions in medical ethics which have followed the 1969-1970 Medical Ethics Discontinuity, a break that challenged the Hippocratic way of thinking about ethics. The resulting dislocations in quality of care and the medical value system are discussed, and an alternative medical ethics is offered: Systems Ethics. A methodology for a Systems Ethics analysis of cases is presented and illustrated by the case of a physician-assisted suicide. The advantages, both theoretical and clinical, of a Systems Ethics approach to medicine, which is an expansion of the Hippocratic tradition in medical ethics, are developed. Using Systems Ethics, it is possible to avoid the dangers of legalism, bureaucratic ethics, utilitarian cost cutting, and "political correctness" in medical ethics.

Language: en