How do principles “apply” to a certain case?
Principles in current usage in health care ethics seem to be of self-evident value. For example, the notion that the physician “ought not to harm” any patient appears to be convincing to rational persons. Or, the idea that the physician should develop a care plan designed to provide the most “benefit” to the patient in terms of other competing alternatives, seems self-evident. Further, before implementing the medical care plan, it is now commonly accepted that the patient must indicate a willingness to accept the proposed treatment, if the patient is cognitively capable of doing so. Finally, medical benefits should be dispensed fairly, so that people with similar needs and in similar circumstances will be treated with fairness. One might argue that we are required to take all of the above principles into account when they are applicable to the clinical case under consideration. Yet, when two or more principles apply, we may find that they are in conflict. For example, consider a patien
