There different ethical theories when it comes to ethics in healthcare. Three of those ethical theories would be consequentialism, non-consequentialism, and virtue ethics. First of all, consequential theory means that doing a morally right action is some type of action that will lead to the maximum balance of a good over something bad or evil. This theory can be judged by our actions and the consequences those actions may bring. The theory revolves around the idea that the rightness or wrongness of an action is dependent upon what action was taken and the consequences of that action and the effects if it. Consequentialism's goal is to achieve the greatest good for the greater number of people such as: what will the effects of the actions bring?;
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In this theory, it denies that the consequences of an action are the only criteria for determining the morality of an action. Under this theory, each situation may have a different scenario or outcome thus resulting in making the moral decision being a case-by-case basis. The rightness is wrongness is based on properties essential to the action, and not on the consequences. The values that one person holds could be so strong but given a different outcome of ones beliefs, it could be changed in order to adjust to the given or different situation at hand. For example, if you are on a plane and crashed on a deserted island and you are the only lone survivor, you may drop you moral belief that it is wrong to eat human flesh in order to survive. However, if you were the lone survivor in the plane crash but there was a substantial amount of food for you to survive as oppose to hitting human flesh, you would choose to eat the food. Therefore, in non-consequentialism, there a no effective hard or fast rules or guidelines that govern ethical behavior. Deontological ethics is also a form of non-consequentialism theory by Immanuel Kant which says: we have a duty of things that we are suppose to and not suppose to do. But doing the right thing may not always lead to right or increase of
In this theory, it denies that the consequences of an action are the only criteria for determining the morality of an action. Under this theory, each situation may have a different scenario or outcome thus resulting in making the moral decision being a case-by-case basis. The rightness is wrongness is based on properties essential to the action, and not on the consequences. The values that one person holds could be so strong but given a different outcome of ones beliefs, it could be changed in order to adjust to the given or different situation at hand. For example, if you are on a plane and crashed on a deserted island and you are the only lone survivor, you may drop you moral belief that it is wrong to eat human flesh in order to survive. However, if you were the lone survivor in the plane crash but there was a substantial amount of food for you to survive as oppose to hitting human flesh, you would choose to eat the food. Therefore, in non-consequentialism, there a no effective hard or fast rules or guidelines that govern ethical behavior. Deontological ethics is also a form of non-consequentialism theory by Immanuel Kant which says: we have a duty of things that we are suppose to and not suppose to do. But doing the right thing may not always lead to right or increase of