Principles of Care

Guiding Principles :

 Ethical decisions are often called for in medical practice, at both the "micro" level of the individua patient-clinician relationship and at the "macro" level of the allocation of resources. Ethical principles that guide the successful approach to diagnosis and treatment are honesty, beneficence, justice, avoidance of conflict of interest and the pledge to do no harm. Increasingly, Western medicine involves patients in important decisions about medical care, including how far to proceed with treatment of patients who have terminal illnesses. The clinician's role does not end with diagnosis and treatment. The importance of the empathic clinician in helping patients and their families bear the burden of serious illness and death cannot be overemphasized. "to cure sometimes, to relieve often, and to comfort always" is a French saying as apt today as it was five centuries ago-- as is French Peabody's admontion:"The secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient."

 

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