Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Medical ethics

  • Has medicine lost the ethics battle?

    Patrick D. Guinan This article was first published in the May 1998 issue of Linacre Quarterly. Modern medicine began with the Greeks and has developed over the past 2,500 years. Medical ethics, which was also initiated by the Greeks, and summarized in the Hippocratic Oath, has guided the moral actions of the physician in his…

  • Medical autonomy and vaccines: A Kantian Imperative

    Justin Le BlancPhiladelphia, United States In The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, Kant seeks to establish a concept of duty based solely on reason. He believed that one must not just act in “accordance with duty . . .” but also for “duty’s sake.”1 He argues that reason provides the foundation upon which…