The 'four principles of bioethics' as found in 13(th) century Muslim scholar Mawlana's teachings

BACKGROUND: There have been different ethical approaches to the issues in the history of philosophy. Two American philosophers Beachump and Childress formulated some ethical principles namely 'respect to autonomy', 'justice', 'beneficence' and 'non-maleficence'. These 'Four Principles' were presented by the authors as universal and applicable to any culture and society. Mawlana, a great figure in Sufi tradition, had written many books which not only guide people how to worship God to be close to Him, but also advise people how to lead a good life to enrich their personality, as well as to create a harmonious society and a peaceful world. METHODS: In this study we examined the major works of Mawlana to find out which of these 'Four Principles of Bioethics' exist in Mawlana's ethical understanding. RESULTS: We have found in our study that all these principles exist in Mawlana's writings and philosophy in one form or another. CONCLUSIONS: We have concluded that, further to Beachump and Childress' claim that these principles are universal and applicable to any culture and society, these principles have always existed in different moral traditions in different ways, of which Mawlana's teaching might be presented as a good example

[[alternative]]長期呼吸器依賴病患撤除維生治療之倫理法律議題

[[abstract]]This paper explores the ethical and legal issues of withdrawing life supports from prolonged mechanical ventilation-dependent patients. Common controversial ethical conceptions are analyzed. Certain American, Canadian and British Professional ethical guidelines concerning end-of-life care ethics are introduced and some classical cases are discussed. The authors then propose basic ethical principles of patient management based on whether patients have decision capacity and whether they are in terminal disease status. Finally the procedures and guidelines for ventilator withdrawal are presented. It is argued that using excessive and futile life supports to prolong the dying processes of patients are not of medical indication, and therefore physicians should avoid and terminate such practices based on professional judgment. The resolution of end-of-life care ethical dilemmas should base on the principles of respecting patient autonomy and promoting the best interest of the patients

Evaluating assessment tools of the quality of clinical ethics consultations: a systematic scoping review from 1992 to 2019

Background Amidst expanding roles in education and policy making, questions have been raised about the ability of Clinical Ethics Committees (CEC) s to carry out effective ethics consultations (CECons). However recent reviews of CECs suggest that there is no uniformity to CECons and no effective means of assessing the quality of CECons. To address this gap a systematic scoping review of prevailing tools used to assess CECons was performed to foreground and guide the design of a tool to evaluate the quality of CECons. Methods Guided by Levac et al’s (2010) methodological framework for conducting scoping reviews, the research team performed independent literature reviews of accounts of assessments of CECons published in six databases. The included articles were independently analyzed using content and thematic analysis to enhance the validity of the findings. Results Nine thousand sixty-six abstracts were identified, 617 full-text articles were reviewed, 104 articles were analyzed and four themes were identified – the purpose of the CECons evaluation, the various domains assessed, the methods of assessment used and the long-term impact of these evaluations. Conclusion This review found prevailing assessments of CECons to be piecemeal due to variable goals, contextual factors and practical limitations. The diversity in domains assessed and tools used foregrounds the lack of minimum standards upheld to ensure baseline efficacy. To advance a contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive, program specific assessment tool to assess CECons, clear structural and competency guidelines must be established in the curation of CECons programs, to evaluate their true efficacy and maintain clinical, legal and ethical standards