Question

2. What are the most important moral principles that a medical professional must follow in their profession? How would you define the Normative Basis for your profession?

Answer 1

Principles: A principle refers to a moral rule or aspect . It is a guiding belief or fundamental assumption.

Most important moral principles that a medical professional must follow:

1. Non malfeasance

Malfeasance means wrong doing or misconduct especially by a professional that causes damage. Non malfeasance refers to ' do no harm' principle. Do not harm or injure a patient unnecessarily.

2. Beneficience

This principle refers to ' Do Good ' to patient or others. It emphasises on the actions that promote the wellbeing of individual, family and society.

3. Autonomy

Autonomy means a capacity to make an informed decision. A medical professional should respect the autonomy of the patient.

4. Justice  

This principle emphasises on equal distribution of health services to all groups of people without discrimination.

Normative basis of health care profession

Normative basis refers to an evaluative standard for behaviour or the outcome of actions. Normative basis for health care profession are the standards for  evaluation of behaviour or outcome of an action by a health professional. Normative basis for health professions are based on the ethics such as medical ethics, nursing ethics etc. Ethics refers to the study of principles relating to right and wrong conduct. Ethics are the standards that govern the conduct of a person, especially a member of a profession.