Our health care lawsare founded on a number of legal concepts. These concepts are often referred to as medical ethics. Medical ethics provide the foundation for understanding our health care laws, how they are enacted, and how they are used by doctors. These concepts include the following:

Nonmalfeasance

Nonmalfeasance refers to the idea that doctors are to “do no harm.” Doctors have to apply this concept in deciding what health care to provide and not to provide.

Beneficence

Beneficence refers to the idea that doctors should “do what is best for the patient.” This requires the doctor to put the patient’s best interest ahead of the doctor’s own interests. This idea is limited since doctors are not able to make all decisions for patients.

Informed Consent

Informed consent refers to the idea that doctors are to respect the autonomy of their patients. It is the patient’s right and responsibility to make health care decisions about his own care. Doctors are to help people express as much autonomy as possible; however, doctors cannot defer to incompetent (or unconscious) patients.

Justice

Justice refers to the idea that doctors provide care for society. In this capacity, doctors have to distribute health care resources fairly. This is often implicated when an individual is going to consume health care resources that could go to others. Doctors are to make these decisions with an eye on fairness.

These are the major principles of medical ethics. These concepts help guide doctors in complying with our health care laws.