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doing something unethical or illegal. (The ex-
pression comes from the world of sport, where a
referee or umpire blows a whistle to signal an
infraction of the rules.)
compassion – pity, feeling for the sufferings of others, prompt-
ing one to give help.
struck off – removed from the GMC register and banned
from practicing medicine in the UK
palliative care – treatment to relieve, rather than cure symptoms
hospice – facility providing care for terminally ill patients
terminally ill – not expected to live
persistent vege-
tative state
– unable to speak or follow simple commands;
does not respond in any psychologically mean-
ingful way.
1. Read the text and answer the following questions:
1. What is ethics?
2. What are the differences between ethics and morality?
3. What is medical ethics?
4. What are the differences between medical ethics and bioethics?
5. What are the main principles of research ethics?
6. Can you add anything to the list of the unresolved issues?
What is medical ethics?
Ethics is the study of morality – careful and systematic reflection
on and analysis of moral decisions and behaviour. Morality is the val-
ue dimension of human decision-making and behaviour. The language
of morality includes nouns such as ‘rights’, ‘responsibilities’ and ‘vir-
tues’ and adjectives such as ‘good’ and ‘bad’(or ’evil’), ‘right’ and
‘wrong’, ‘just’ and ‘unjust’. According to these definitions, ethics is
primarily a matter of knowing whereas morality is a matter of do-
ing.Their close relationship consists in the concern of ethics to provide
rational criteria for people to decide or behave in some ways rather
than others.
Since ethics deals with all aspects of human behaviour and deci-
sion-making, it is a very large and complex field of study with many
branches or subdivisions. Medical ethics is the branch of ethics that