Beneficence and Health Care

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Historical and Conceptual Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages ins1-ins1

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   2. Philanthropy in Medicine: Some Historical Perspectives

      • Darrel W. Amundsen, Gary B. Ferngren

      Pages 1-31

   3. Philosophical Foundations of Beneficence

      • Allen E. Buchanan

      Pages 33-62

   4. Beneficence in an Ethics of Virtue

      • William K. Frankena

      Pages 63-81

   5. Beneficence, Supererogation, and Role Duty

      • John P. Reeder Jr.

      Pages 83-108

3. Beneficence in Religious Ethics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages ins3-ins3

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   2. Jewish Ethics and Beneficence

      • Ronald M. Green

      Pages 109-125

   3. Roman Catholic Ethics and Beneficence

      • William E. May

      Pages 127-151

   4. Protestant Ethics and Beneficence

      • Harmon L. Smith

      Pages 153-182

4. Beneficence in Health Care

   1. Front Matter

      Pages ins5-ins5

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   2. Scope of Beneficence in Health Care

      • Natalie Abrams

      Pages 183-198

   3. To Benefit and Respect Persons: A Challenge for Beneficence in Health Care

      • Earl E. Shelp

      Pages 199-222

   4. Beneficence and Health Policy: Reduction of Risk-Taking

      • James F. Childress

      Pages 223-238

   5. Altruism in Health Care

      • Ronald M. Green

      Pages 239-254

   6. Epilogue

      • Earl E. Shelp

      Pages 255-256

5. Back Matter

   Pages 257-264

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The meaning and application of the principle of beneficence to issues in health care is rarely clear or certain. Although the principle is frequently employed to justify a variety of actions and inactions, very little has been done from a conceptual point of view to test its relevance to these behaviors or to explore its relationship to other moral principles that also might be called upon to guide or justify conduct. Perhaps more than any other, the principle of benef­ icence seems particularly appropriate to contexts of health care in which two or more parties interact from positions of relative strength and weakness, advantage and need, to pursue some perceived goal. It is among those moral principles that Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress selected in their textbook on bioethics as applicable to biomedicine in general and relevant to a range of specific issues ([1], pp. 135-167). More narrowly, The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behav­ ioral Research identified beneficence as among those moral principles that have particular relevance to the conduct of research involving humans (2). Thus, the principle of beneficence is seen as pertinent to the routine delivery of health care, the discovery of new therapies, and the rationale of public policies related to health care.

• Catholic ethics
• beneficence
• ethics
• health
• health policy

• Institute of Religion, Houston, USA

  Earl E. Shelp

• Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA

  Earl E. Shelp

Policies and ethics