Ethics in cardiovascular interventions

Summary

Moral teaching involves decisions about right and wrong based on shared values and norms in a given society. Ethics is the study of morality in a given context. Finally, the law represents a set of rules of conduct systematised and enforced by society. Thus, in a nutshell, ethics addresses moral obligations often outlined in moral teaching while the law defines legal duties. In order to follow the principles of Good Medical Practice all three domains need to inform decision-making, and their respective missions should be clearly understood by all professionals and organisations involved in health care.

This chapter provides a brief overview of medical ethics with a focus on the practice of cardiovascular interventions.

Introduction

Ethics is the study of morality, and involves the rights and wrongs in human decisions and actions in a given society. Ancient writings as diverse as the Vedas, Bible, and Analects, and the various codes and codices of long-gone societies testify to the origins of ethics as rule-based entities designed to establish and maintain order and civility within the emerging societies. Later these rules became the subject of religious, political and philosophical debates, eventually resulting in the development of numerous schools of philosophical ethics,...