Using Principles as a Tool for Understanding Ethics Cases
For clinical ethics, the model used most often, even if it is less a theory than a practical compromise, is called "the four principles." Tom Beauchamp and James Childress first popularized this approach in their 1979 book, Principles of Biomedical Ethics. They have continued to develop this account for nearly 40 years and six editions. The principles have great utility, as evidenced by how they have been adopted (with varying degrees of modifications) by textbooks in medical ethics, nursing ethics, dental ethics, dental hygiene ethics, and many other clinical fields. Indeed, there is no reason to think they should not apply equally well to all clinical fields, and so could be useful for clinical social work and clinical psychology, as well as pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and other allied health professions. This also means they are especially useful for helping an interprofessional team reach a consensus. Given the proven utility of the approach for clinical ethics and research ethics, four additional principles are proposed to define professionalism, followed by four additional principles for Public Health ethics.