impact of consequentialism in healthcare
Epub 2022 Apr 9. 2. The Survival Lottery thought experiment highlights that there are actions which we consider morally right or wrong regardless of the amount of happiness or welfare produced. In contemporary moral philosophy, deontology is one of those kinds of normative theories regarding which choices are morally required, forbidden, or . Subsequent actions are mediated though ethical decision-making frames of reference including deontology, consequentialism, the ethics of care and virtue ethics. Keywords: Consequentialism | ethics | Britannica Consequentialism entails that we can be held morally responsible for a lack of action, and whilst the case of the drowning child shows that it is possible to be indirectly responsible by not acting, in cases like Jims it involves going further than can be reasonably expected. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help One way is by using ethical concepts to shed light on everyday practice. Frontiers | On Consequentialism and Fairness This will take a team effort and true representation of humility and togetherness. Disclaimer. Machine learning and the profession of medicine. Parmar DN, Mehta BB. Genetically Modified Organisms: The Golden Rice Debate - NYU Langone Health There is important reason for the root word. Williams example shows that consequentialism disregards the agents own personal commitments and allows for negative responsibility. Caring for parents: a consequentialist approach | SpringerLink Changes in the Earth's climate can affect public health, agriculture, water supplies, energy production and use, land use and development, and recreation. The .gov means its official. Published November 9, 2017. Particularly in Italy, where the death toll and strain on hospitals has reached a critical point, there is a policy now to prioritise treating younger patients and healthcare workers. It emphasises four key ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, which are shared by most ethical theories, and blends these with virtues and practical wisdom. As there is a buzz of chatter and activity presently in Trinidad and Tobago's ' gangland' one cannot dismiss the propensity of consequentialism surfacing. Consequentialism is the theory in moral philosophy that says our actions should aim at producing the best consequences. However, despite these efforts, the oppressing side ignores the foreign powers efforts. The lack of respect for the integrity of the individual is raised by Bernard Williams famous Jim and the Indians thought experiment, quoted above. https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ehr-provider-touts-mhealth-access-by-apples-facial-recognition-app. As the saga unfolds we are to monitor, measure and maximise the consequences for the greater good of the larger number. A Brief Introduction to Consequentialism Ethics - Benjamin Spall These include efforts to create AI systems that explain the rationale behind the results generated.31 Clinicians can also be trained to consider and respond to limitations and biases of FRT systems.32 In addition, organizations such as the National Human Genome Research Institute have sought to diversify the range of people whose images are included in their image databases.33. One doctor speaking to the Business Insider claimed: "If you had, let's say, an ICU that was overwhelmed, you're probably going to try and give some extra attention to healthcare workers because you need them to deliver care," he said. For example, restricting the movement of unvaccinated individuals into the country reduces the spread of COVID-19. health. The other way of thinking about the relationship is the focus of this paper. Immanuel Kant started developing deontology after he was inspired by the movement called the Enlightenment, which emphasized human reason and individual autonomy. (b). 14,15 Another major area for FRT applications in health care is patient identification and monitoring, such . Again, consequentialism forces us to put our commitments second, regardless of how strongly we are connected to them or how much pleasure we derive from them. The Oxford Handbook of Consequentialism | Oxford Academic Published April 25, 2018. But if telling a lie. Geriatr Nurs. Looks like youve clipped this slide to already. Accessed October 26, 2018. This was his theory of rule utilitarianism. This makes consequentialist theories very demanding on the agent involved. According to consequentialism, you should always strive to bring about good consequences, rather than simply obeying an arbitrary set of ethical rules. In: Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Computing, Communication and Automation (ICCCA); April 29-30, 2016; Noida, India:399-404. Informed consent. Facial recognition technology (FRT) utilizes software to map a persons facial characteristics and then store the data as a face template.1 Algorithms or machine learning techniques are applied to a database to compare facial images or to find patterns in facial features for verification or authentication purposes.2 FRT is attractive for a variety of health care applications, such as diagnosing genetic disorders, monitoring patients, and providing health indicator information (related to behavior, aging, longevity, or pain experience, for example).3-5, FRT is likely to become a useful tool for diagnosing many medical and genetic conditions.6,7 Machine learning techniques, in which a computer program is trained on a large data set to recognize patterns and generates its own algorithms on the basis of learning,8 have already been used to assist in diagnosing a patient with a rare genetic disorder that had not been identified after years of clinical effort.9 Machine learning can also detect more subtle correlations between facial morphology and genetic disorders than clinicians.4 It is thought that FRT can therefore eventually be used to assist in earlier detection and treatment of genetic disorders,10,11 and computer applications (commonly known as apps) such as Face2Gene have been developed to assist clinicians in diagnosing genetic disorders.12, FRT has other potential health care applications. Also, in certain situations, consequentialism can lead to decisions that are objectionable, even though the consequences are arguably good. Accessed July 31, 2018. The oppressor, obviously, retaliates with ever more repressive measures to crush the minority by force. Virtue ethics: focusing on the moral character, or . Select Accept to consent or Reject to decline non-essential cookies for this use. The other concern people express is the tendency of consequentialism to use ends justify the means logic. Many forms of consequentialism have been proposed that attempt to deal with the issue of comparing moral value. Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Relationships among moral reasoning, coping style, and ethics stress. 2022 Jan 6;10(1):12. doi: 10.3390/pharmacy10010012. J Adv Nurs. Consequentialism plays a huge role in this scenario as in both cases results of the decision made can be either positive or negative. Imagine you are in your local park feeding the ducks on the pond when you hear a loud splash; a child has fallen into the pond and is struggling to swim. Deontological Ethics. Consequentialism and the Law in Medicine - PubMed Utilitarianism: Strengths & Weaknesses - VIVA Open Publishing Instead, it is being driven by patients, who are increasingly turning into consumers. Designer Babies: Where Should We Draw the Line? Get the latest inspiration, intelligence, events & more. Accessed July 25, 2018. A consequence of consequentialism, however, is that it fails to respect the integrity of the individuals involved. MIT Technology Review. Borsos Z, Gyori M. Can automated facial expression analysis show differences between autism and typical functioning? Disregarding our integrity and alienating ourselves from our values and social ideas is likely to result in a life of unhappiness. An action that brings about more benefit than harm is good, while an action that causes more harm than benefit is not. Consequentialism focuses on promoting the best consequences, but what kind of consequences are the best? This chapter discusses consequentialism. Data Lab. This chapter outlines core characteristics of Utilitarianism and explores them with regard to their significance in healthcare settings. FOIA Surgical nurses' perceptions of ethical dilemmas, moral distress and quality of care. The happiness of the individual is overridden by the happiness of the masses. Moore 1912, chs. consequentialism can give us an account of responsibility. Atlas of human malformation syndromes in diverse populations. The issue here is that the advantages cannot balance out the likelihood of harm that would exist at the end of the day. Consequentialism - Ministry of Ethics .co.uk Ethical considerations: Ethical approval was obtained from the local National Research Ethics Committee. Watson M. Keeping your machine learning models up-to-date: continuous learning with IBM Watson machine learning (part 1). Nurses' tension-based ethical decision making in rural acute care settings. This helps prevent a surge of infected patients in the existing healthcare facilities. Beneficence and non-maleficence to weigh out the benefits and the duty of doing no harm to subsequently consider what is in the patient's best interest. Wellcome TrustFunded Monographs and Book Chapters. Principlism - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics In this particular case, a foreign power decides to hear the cries of the oppressed and begins to lend its diplomatic and political support to make a moral claim for whatever sort of intervention to resolve the conflict. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please, Jim finds himself in the central square of a small South American town. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! Four major themes emerged: 'best for the patient', 'accountability', 'collaboration and conflict' and 'concern for others'. Now we will look at an example of how utilitarianism may be used in a medical context. Even if nobody would be hurt, our speeding laws mean less people are harmed overall. An official website of the United States government. There are several varieties of utilitarianism. Using the example of Jim and the Indians, Williams successfully illustrates that consequentialism fails to respect the integrity of the individual because in deciding what is wrong or right what really matters is not the action but the outcome of it. Does the pain that Jim would feel not need to be taken into account when looking at the best overall outcome? Patient privacy. To identify the values, beliefs and contextual influences that inform decision-making. A person should do whatever leads to the best consequence. Consequentialism Deontology (Biomedical Ethics) Charles Lohman . For consequentialism this is not a problem, as the individual is just a mechanism for maximising overall happiness; they are instrumental. Is it better to give my money to charity or spend it studying medicine so I can save lives? Accessed August 1, 2018. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. (Though, most versions of non-consequentialism allow some ethical relevance of consequences). Whenever we are faced with a decision, an act consequentialist will expect us to ask that question. Weve updated our privacy policy so that we are compliant with changing global privacy regulations and to provide you with insight into the limited ways in which we use your data. It provides criteria and rules for moral evaluation and decision making. PHI 204 - Ethical Issues in Health Care: Consequentialism, Deontology 1. Careers. How Should Clinicians Communicate With Patients About the Roles of Artificially Intelligent Team Members? This site needs JavaScript to work properly. To demonstrate this I will use an adapted version of John Harris Survival Lottery thought experiment (this thought experiment is a theoretical example used to highlight the objection and is not to be taken literally): Let us imagine we have five patients who require organ transplants. It is one of the main causes of preventable blindness in young children from developing countries. The Consequences of Accepting Consequentialism | Issue 115 - Philosophy Now Consequentialism is the position that morality is determined by the outcome of good or bad consequences caused by a person's actions. Answer (1 of 4): The term 'consequentialism' was coined by the philosopher G E M Anscombe in her 1958 paper, 'Modern Moral Philosophy' (Philosophy 33, No. While FRT systems in health care can de-identify data, some experts are skeptical that such data can be truly anonymized21; from clinical and ethical perspectives, informing patients about this kind of risk is critical. Indeed, society as a whole is more important than any one person in the eyes of a Utilitarian. This button displays the currently selected search type. Accessed March 12, 2018. Utilitarianism in Public Health January 2016 . Nicole Martinez-Martin, JD, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics in Stanford, California. 2014 Nov;40(11):1529-42. doi: 10.1177/0146167214551154. The standardized definition of Utilitarianism is that actions are defined as being "right" or "correct" based on the ability it has to promote happiness. Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. MeSH Utilitarianism would permit a doctor to allow Patient A to die and for their organs to be used to save the lives of the other five patients. She earned a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Chicago in comparative human development. So what exactly is wrong with it? Gates KA. Applications of facial recognition technology (FRT) in health care settings have been developed to identify and monitor patients as well as to diagnose genetic, medical, and behavioral conditions. Some machine learning systems need continuous data input to train and improve the algorithms22 in a process that could be analogized to quality improvement research, for which informed consent is not regarded as necessary.23 For example, to improve its algorithms, FRT for genetic diagnosis would need to receive new data sets of images of patients already known to have specific genetic disorders.2 To maintain trust and transparency with patients, organizations should consider involving relevant community stakeholders in implementing FRT and in decisions about establishing and improving practices of informing patients about the organizations use of FRT. However, having evolved from a set of Christian values and principles, it retains certain deontological characteristics. JONAS Healthc Law Ethics Regul. For example, if I have the choice between saving one of my two cats, Benjy and Oliver, from a house fire, I should save the cat that would produce the most utility over the other one. Q: Roe v. Wade may soon be overturned by the Supreme Court, while at the same time other countries are loosening restrictions around abortion rights. 497 - 516. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. January 11, 2018. https://medium.com/@blaisea/do-algorithms-reveal-sexual-orientation-or-just-expose-our-stereotypes-d998fafdf477. 124). The negative health implications of restricting abortion access Consequentialism is a normative ethics theory whereby the ends justify the means; in other words, the consequence of an action justifies the moral acceptability of an action of the means taken to reach that end. Automated depression diagnosis based on facial dynamic analysis and sparse coding. Given the exhaustion of most, if not all, negotiation and compromise within a diplomatic and political framework, the minority have two options: 1) rebellion till death; 2) subjugation till death. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):9317. You can read four articles free per month. Findings: What is consequentialism? What are some examples? - Quora Why facial recognition is the future of diagnostics. I intend to show that expecting individuals to take an impersonal standpoint in a decision that so greatly affects them is unrealistic and leads to alienation. Principlism is a commonly used ethical approach in healthcare and biomedical sciences. Unable to load your collection due to an error, Unable to load your delegates due to an error. December 9, 2017. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320316.php. Impact on Human Health Due to Ghaggar Water Pollution (2). The foregoing are just a sample of the ethical approaches a healthcare professional may adopt in practice and it may be argued that there are three main moral theories from which these approaches may, in part, spring, namely virtue ethics, deontology and consequentialism. All Rights Reserved. Agera y Arcas B, Todorov A, Mitchell M. Do algorithms reveal sexual orientation or just expose our stereotypes? Taking an impersonal standpoint leads to alienation; this is the state of someone who has become separated from their commitments to themselves and others. FRT is being developed to predict health characteristics, such as longevity and aging. If consequentialism is to take a hedonistic approach that we should act so as to maximise overall happiness then it results in a contradiction. Bias. BBC - Ethics - Introduction to ethics: Ethics: a general introduction Accessed July 17, 2018. The .gov means its official. Should Electronic Health Record-Derived Social and Behavioral Data Be Used in Precision Medicine Research?