ethics glossary

Understanding and discussing ethical concepts is a crucial aspect of success in Multiple Mini Interviews (MMIs) and other interviews for residency programs and acceptance into medical school. This glossary provides definitions of key terms for discussing ethical challenges and dilemmas.

Absolutism: Belief in universal, fixed moral principles that apply to everyone at all times.

Advance Directives: Legal documents stating a patient’s wishes for future medical care if they lose decision-making capacity.

Altruism: Placing patients’ needs ahead of one’s own interests.

Autonomy: A patient’s right to make informed, independent choices consistent with their values.

Beneficence: The professional obligation to act in ways that benefit the patient.

Capacity: A clinical determination of a person’s ability to understand, appreciate, and make decisions about healthcare at a specific time.

Capability Theory: An ethical framework that emphasizes expanding people’s opportunities and choices.

Caregiver Burden: The physical, emotional, and financial strain experienced by family or informal caregivers.

Casuistry: Resolving ethical issues through case-based reasoning and comparison.

Child Assent: Agreement from a child with decision-making ability, sought alongside parental consent.

Circle of Care: The team of professionals and organizations directly involved in a patient’s care.

Coercion: Direct force or threats that remove a person’s freedom of choice.

Competence: A legal determination of a person’s ability to make healthcare decisions, made by a court.

Compliance: Adherence to established laws, regulations, or ethical standards.

Conflict of Interest: A situation where personal or financial interests could unduly influence professional judgment.

Conscientious Objection: A provider’s refusal to participate in care due to deeply held moral or religious beliefs.

Consequentialism: An ethical theory judging actions by their outcomes.

Cultural Relativism: Belief that moral standards and values are defined relative to culture or society.

Deontology: An ethical theory emphasizing duties, rules, and rights over outcomes.

Dignity: Respect for each patient’s inherent worth.

Disclosure: Sharing truthful and relevant information with patients.

Discretion: Careful and judicious decision-making in varying contexts.

Distributive Justice: Fair allocation of scarce healthcare resources.

Dual Loyalty: A conflict when a provider’s obligations to a patient compete with obligations to an institution, government, or other party.

Duty of Candor: The obligation to be open and honest with patients about errors or harm.

Duty to Warn: The responsibility to disclose information when a patient poses a foreseeable risk to others.

Express Consent: Clearly given, verbally or in writing.

Fallibilism: Recognition that medical knowledge and judgments may be fallible.

Feminist Bioethics: An ethical approach addressing inequities, power dynamics, and marginalized perspectives in healthcare.

Fiduciary Duty: The provider’s obligation of loyalty, honesty, and trustworthiness toward patients.

Golden Rule Test: Ethical test asking whether one would accept the same treatment for themselves.

Harm Reduction: Strategies that reduce risks of harmful behaviors without requiring abstinence.

Health Disparities: Differences in health outcomes across groups that reflect social or systemic inequities.

Implied Consent: Consent assumed through patient actions or circumstances.

Incapacity: A state in which a person lacks decision-making capacity.

Informed Consent: A process in which patients voluntarily agree to treatment after understanding its risks, benefits, and alternatives.

Informed Dissent: A patient’s refusal of treatment after being informed of the options.

Involuntary Treatment: Provision of medical care without patient consent, usually under legal authority.

Justice: The ethical principle of fairness in healthcare.

Liability: Legal or ethical responsibility for one’s actions and their consequences.

Libertarianism: Ethical stance prioritizing individual liberty and minimal external interference.

Material Risk: A risk that a reasonable patient would consider important when making a healthcare decision.

Moral Distress: Emotional suffering when clinicians cannot act according to their ethical beliefs.

Moral Injury: Lasting harm to a provider’s integrity from being forced to act against their conscience.

Narrative Ethics: Ethical reasoning that draws on patient stories and lived experiences.

Negligence: Failure to provide the accepted standard of care, resulting in harm.

Nonmaleficence: The duty to avoid causing harm.

Parens Patriae Doctrine: The state’s authority to act in the best interests of vulnerable individuals.

Paternalism: Overriding a patient’s choice for what is perceived as their own good.

Pluralism: Recognition and tolerance of diverse perspectives, values, or cultures.

Pragmatism: Ethical approach focusing on practical outcomes and real-world effects.

Presumed Consent: A system in which individuals are considered organ donors unless they opt out.

Principlism: An ethical framework based on four principles: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.

Prudence: Exercising careful judgment and foresight in clinical decisions.

Publicity Test: Ethical test asking whether one would act the same way if their decision were made public.

Relational Autonomy: Recognition that individuals’ choices are shaped by relationships and social contexts.

Right: A legal or moral entitlement held by patients in healthcare.

Standard of Care: The accepted level of competence and quality required of healthcare providers.

Stakeholder: Person or group affected by or involved in a decision or process.

Substitute Decision-Maker (SDM): A person legally authorized to make healthcare decisions for someone who lacks capacity.

Therapeutic Privilege: Withholding information when disclosure is believed to cause serious harm to the patient.

Transparency: Open, honest, and clear communication in healthcare.

Undue Influence: Manipulation or excessive pressure that compromises genuine consent.

Utilitarianism: An ethical theory holding that the best action is the one that maximizes overall well-being.

Virtue Ethics: An approach to ethics emphasizing the character and virtues of the decision-maker.

Voluntariness: Consent given freely, without coercion or undue influence.

Whistleblowing: Reporting unethical or illegal conduct within an organization, often for public protection.