Beneficence involves harmonizing the advantages of treatment against the costs and risks involved in it. This is an action done to benefit others. These actions in medical treatment are taken to assist in preventing or removing harm or just improving the condition of others. In clinical applications, it is the likelihood of physicians to avoid doing any harm as they fulfill their obligation of helping patients. Beneficence can be divided into obligatory and ideal; ideal beneficence is the extreme acts that physicians perform in terms of generosity in attempting to benefit others in whatever ways possible. This however is not a necessity to all physicians but they should possess knowledge and skills that allow them to help others. This would enable them achieve the goal of medicine which is promotion of patients’ wellbeing. The obligation of medical practitioners is to remove or prevent harm, weigh the benefits and costs of an action and balance them. For example, provision of vaccinations, encouraging patients to quit bad habits like smoking and drinking are acts of beneficence.
Non-maleficence means doing no harm. Practitioners in the medical field should not provide ineffective treatments or act maliciously towards the patients. This principle does not guide physicians effectively as most therapies that benefit patients have serious risks but it dictates that the benefits should always overshadow the burdens. In clinical applications doctors are not allowed to give unsuccessful treatment to patients because they offer more risks than benefits thus harming the patients. They must not take any actions that purposely harm the patient without balancing the benefits. Since procedures, interventions and medications harm patients in a way the non-maleficence principles gives less concrete guidance in caring for patients but it works well when balanced with beneficence. Non-maleficence therefore shows that the risks must be explained and understood in light of probable benefits, and the patient should decide. An example of a non-maleficence act is not giving treatment that has been indicated to be ineffective.
References
Clarfield, A. M. (2003). Ethical Issues. Journal of Medical Management, 100-156.
John, L. (2009). Ethics and Law. Critical Care Ethics, 225-230.
