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Biomedical subjects

K D Clouser

Publications and source records attributed to K D Clouser.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

The challenge for future debate on euthanasia.

There is a significant pattern emerging in the discourse about euthanasia and assisted suicide as exemplified in the other articles in this special issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. That pattern is a dynamic tension that should be nurtured in the best interests of our options at the end of life. On the one hand, there is general acceptance of the right to self-determination and (within debatable limits) of the rationality and mortality of suicide. And on the other hand, there has been emphasis on comfort care through appropriately chosen medications and through a wholesome doctor-patient relationship that fosters a view of life worth living. Thus the creative tension is between the freedom to be dispatched with a minimum of suffering and the efforts to make it more desirable to stay and fight. It is a variation of the "fight or flight" response. The tension must be maintained for the good of us all. Too much emphasis on either one would skew the balance, and a dangerous extreme could result.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1990

A critique of principlism.

The authors use the term "principlism" to refer to the practice of using "principles" to replace both moral theory and particular moral rules and ideals in dealing with the moral problems that arise in medical practice. The authors argue that these "principles" do not function as claimed, and that their use is misleading both practically and theoretically. The "principles" are in fact not guides to action, but rather they are merely names for a collection of sometimes superficially related matters for consideration when dealing with a moral problem. The "principles" lack any systematic relationship to each other, and they often conflict with each other. These conflicts are unresolvable, since there is no unified moral theory from which they are all derived. For comparison the authors sketch the advantages of using a unified moral theory.

Beneficence↗
PubMed1990

Humanities in medical education: some contributions.

The author discusses the contribution of humanities teaching in medical education. Five "qualities of mind" specifically engendered by the humanistic disciplines are isolated, delineated, and illustrated: critical abilities, flexibility of perspective, nondogmatism, discernment of values, and empathy and self-knowledge.

Education, Medical↗
PubMed1989

Teaching medical ethics in its contexts: Penn State College of Medicine.

Ethics teaching at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine began when the medical school accepted its first students in 1967. The ethics program co-evolved with the school and the Department of Humanities without guidelines or models, since neither medical ethics nor medical humanities had yet been invented as fields of study. The focus of the article is on two key differences between the Penn State ethics program and most other such programs: the teaching of medical ethics within the context of other issues of value and meaning in medicine, and the fact that the humanities faculty is involved in the activities and structures of the medical center of which the medical school is a part. The authors close with a description of successful factors in their program that they maintain could apply to other programs.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed1986

Rationality in medicine: an explication.

Various meanings of "rational" implicitly and explicitly suggested in this issue's articles are abstracted and stated. Two accounts of rationality are shown to be able to explain most uses of "rational": the "cool moment" account and a more objective account. The former is examined and modified, but still found inadequate. The objective account of rational is developed, taking "irrational" as the basic concept. "Irrational" is given content in terms of a list, and "rational" is subsequently defined as "not irrational". Reasons and motives are defined and distinguished. The advantages of the objective account are explored and some challenges to it are answered.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMed1985

A covenant between physician and patient. An innovation by a graduating class.

A class of medical school seniors desired more than the traditional graduation ceremony. They planned and presented a "baccalaureate service" to give voice to deeply felt concerns. A part of this service was a covenant in the form of a responsive reading between the new physicians and the public. The covenant, written for the occasion, encompasses mutual understanding and agreement between physician and patient, thereby avoiding pitfalls and anachronisms associated with traditional oaths and codes.

Humans↗
PubMed1977

Allowing or causing: another look.

If "allowing to die" is really different from "causing to die," it is so on a much more subtle level than is generally thought. Efforts to compare the two by locating "cause" have been mistaken. What is really at issue is the location of moral responsibility. The physician has an obligation to save and is remiss if he does not try. The layman does not and is not. But as saving turns into pointless torture, the physician's obligation recedes, and he (ethically) becomes a layman. There is a range within which this turning point would take place for each of us, and the value of a "living will" can be seen as a means for each of us to specify that point for himself.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1975

Medical ethics: some uses, abuses, and limitations.

A backlash against medical ethics may be developing because of a misunderstanding of its purpose and limitation. A primary role of medical ethics is to "structure" the disputed issues--i.e., by detailing the relevant principles and implications, analyzing the pivotal concepts, and focusing on the relevant facts. Medical ethics is limited by being unable to discriminate finely, so that a single line of action can seldom be determined by moral criteria alone. Underlying many criticisms of medical ethics is the failure to realize that medical ethics as such is not a reform movement or an effort to inspire moral behavior, that it is not and cannot be a specialist's body of esoteric knowledge, that it requires facts and conceptual analyses from other fields to do its work, and that value arguments can be carried farther than one generally expects.

Abortion, Legal↗