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The first philosophical theories and views on values and virtues were formed in the period of Ancient Greece. Today, society lives according to moral laws that are dictated by basic moral principles that are directly related to values and virtues that form views on all aspects of life. Humanity absorbs moral principles since childhood, and extends them to all spheres of its life. They essentially dictate to us how each person ought to behave, what is wrong and right, what things are important in life.
In this way various ethical professional codes, codes of ethical behavior, etc. are formed. What are ‘value’ and ‘virtue’? How are they acquired? And the most important, how these philosophical instruments of moral laws could be helpful in resolving professional healthcare dilemmas? To answer these questions it is necessary to observe the key philosophical theories in order to determine the essence and features of ‘value’ and ‘virtue’ terms.
Today there are a great variety of virtues theories, which differ in their goals and determining the virtues. But most of them are based on the philosophy of the ancient philosophers like Aristotle. Thus, in this paper neo-Aristotelian approach to virtues and values are observed in order to determine the key features of values and virtues as well as to reveal the influence of these terms on ethical professional dilemmas. This paper will operate around the concept of virtues and moral values. The key point of this essay is the assumption that person’s virtues in professional field (in this case healthcare sphere) sometimes go against the values accepted in society.
Virtues versus Values
At the beginning it should be determined that virtues and values are not interchangeable terms, however sometimes they are used as synonyms. Values are moral norms of behavior acceptable in today’s society. They can differ from one local society to another like ethical norms vary in some aspects in different religions and different churches. Virtues are more personal, they can rather be called moral characteristics of individual. Thus, to the values can be attributed attractiveness, tolerance, experience, intelligence, etc. Virtues are not the characteristics or traits that could be taught or given, they come from within. They are honesty, kindness, wisdom, compassion, and others.
Nancy N. Snow (2018) in her book The Oxford Handbook of Virtue noted that virtue could be understood in three ways: as trait, as sensitivity, and as a skill. Virtues as a trait concept is based on Aristotle’s philosophical approach and highlights three types of traits: global; tend to give rise to virtuous motivation; tend to give rise to virtuous action; and stable over time (Snow, 2018).The second concept could be determined as one which is also based on Aristotle’s philosophical approach but interpreted as sensitivity to moral requirements. The last one concept is operated around the virtue not as something to be taught, but something to be practiced. In this way knowledge becomes a skill. So, values are acquired by society from early childhood during the learning, when virtues are acquired from the character and become trait, sensitivity or skill.
Virtues and Values in Resolving Ethical Healthcare Dilemmas
Neo-Aristotelian approach in Ethical Professional Behavior
In professional ethics the most often applied approach is neo-Aristotelian, which implies the virtue background, which aims to the end. In Aristotelian approach the end means the end of human beings, but in neo- Aristotelian ethics the end of profession is implied. According to Spielthenner (2017), in this case virtues are supplementary component of a comprehensive theory of professional ethics, which also includes a theory of right action.
It is obvious that virtues’ approach, according to neo-Aristotelian theory, should include the specific goals for each profession. Thus, Spielthenner(2018) mentioned in his article the works of Pellegrino and Thomasma, Banks and Gallagher related to medicine. The scientists highlight such goals, necessary for healthcare field, like recovery and improvement of physical and mental health, as well as minimization of suffering and distress. At the same time medical stuff could receive additional goals, for example doctors provide researches and teach students or do administrative duties. So, different virtues are necessary for one profession.
Ethical Healthcare Dilemma: the Role of Virtues and Values
For better understanding of ethical professional dilemmas and the role of virtues and values in their solving one case will be observed. It is a conflict concerning the disclosing health care information to family. The patient is a teenager girl in the age of 17 with viral upper respiratory illness (Nelson, 2009). She came to her doctor because of painful blisters on her genetalia. She was taking oral contraceptives as she has already had active sexual life, but her family thought she tried to make her periods regular. After the doctor’s examining, it revealed that the girl had typical genital herpes. Such a diagnosis was a shock for the girl; she began to panic and demand from the doctor to maintain confidentiality. She did not want to spread about her illness to her parents or partner.
Such situation became an ethical conflict for the doctor. From the position of ethical code, each patient has a right on the confidence, and the medical stuff must respect and preserve the patient's personal data from other persons. Thus, there appears such ethical value as respect. Since the girl was only 17 years old the, medical center could not leave the case history of a minor patient in secret from her parents. Moreover, she was a teenager, for whom support and psychological help are needed. Here are the virtues, such as kindness, caring and empathy arisen. Thus, it is seen that values do not always coincide with virtues. But in any case, they help to resolve such conflicts. So, the doctor needs to talk with the patient, mentioning all the consequences of her silence and the need for support.
Conclusion
Values and virtues are important tools in ethical matters, especially in the professional field. Basically, in ethical standards values, which are socially recognized moral principles, are taken as the basis. Virtues, as the individual characteristics of the individual, sometimes go against social ethical values, as is evident from the case. So, further work is needed in the field of professional medical ethics to reduce the risk of ethical conflicts.
