Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the connection between theoretical and applied ethics. Tom Beauchamp claims that it makes relatively little difference in one's ethical deliberations whether one begins from a Utilitarian, Kantian or Virtue-based approach to medical ethics. His claim is examined by considering three case studies in medical ethics in careful detail, comparing the approaches taken to similar cases by philosophers of a variety of theoretical persuasions, and examining the differences that appear among them. ;The first case concerns a physician who discovers that one of his patients, a school bus driver, has a heart condition which could cause him to lose consciousness at any time. The patient refuses to stop driving his bus because he is near retirement, too old to find another job, and will lose his pension if he cannot finish out his term of employment. ;The second case concerns a family physician who learns that a sixteen year-old patient has received a prescription for oral contraceptives at a family-planning clinic. He decides to inform the young woman's father, because he feels it is in the patient's best interest that they know. ;The third and final case concerns a Laotian family living in California. They have a son with a club foot, and social workers believe it be be in his best interest to attempt to surgically repair this defect. The parents will not give their permission for the operation for religious reasons. ;These three cases were chosen because they provide clear examples of cases where theoretical considerations can lead one to favor measurably different solutions. In addition, because all three represent actual problems faced by medical professionals, they also offer insight into the sorts of difficulties in which ethical theories purport to offer guidance or at least clarity in ethical deliberation. The conclusion reached is that while different theoretical approaches to medical ethics do not always produce different resolutions in particular cases, they provide clearly distinct approaches to the issues raised, and these differences are such that one's theoretical loyalties are an important part of one's ethical deliberations