# 23 - Landmark publications relevant for critique o

# Landmark publications relevant for critique on ethics

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 
The informative model. The doctor is seen as a dispenser of information. Here the choice 
is left wholly up to the patient. May be useful in one-off consultations, but may not work 
well if strictly followed on long-term professional relationship. 
 
The interpretive model. Here the doctor will be treating the patient for a long time and 
might know his/her patient well and understand the circumstances of their microenvironment. Here shared decision-making is established. 
 
The deliberative model. The doctor here may act as a friend or counselor to the patient, 
where information dispensing is coupled with advice on a course of action. This is 
commonly used to enable lifestyle modification and to address maladaptive coping. 
4. Other terms used: 
 Direct Ethics is about the action taken. To determine what ethical behaviour is, we 
should assess the act -- what has been done. 
 Indirect Ethics is about the actor -- the nature of the individual choosing those actions. 
The main concern here is the formation of character by a moral agent (a person). 
 Pragmatic ethics: Emphasis is on achieving success, on reaching a goal with relatively 
little concern for how that success is achieved. 
 Humanistic ethics: Emphasis is on doing what's best for society. This dominates ethical 
theory overwhelmingly; according to humanism, ethics is held as a virtue, with its goal 
being social improvement rather than personal success. 
Although some actions are always wrong (murder, for instance), in most cases, ethical behaviour 
lies between extremes, along a range between excess and deficiency. This is the idea of the 
golden mean of Aristotle. 
Landmark publications relevant for critique on ethics 
 Nuremberg Code 1974: Code of ethics following the Nuremberg Trials (post-World War II 
Trial concerning doctors experimenting on people detained in concentration camps). 
According to Nuremberg Code, human experimentation can be carried out only if 
 Voluntary consent is given 
 Research is intended for common good of the society 
 Avoidance of unnecessary pain and suffering is guaranteed for the subjects 
 Subject has liberty to withdraw at any point 
 Qualified researchers undertake research 
 Scientist must terminate a study if more harm is being caused than expected to the 
subjects