Biomaterial Database

Bioethics in the twenty-first century: why we should pay attention to eighteenth-century medical ethics. 1996

Laurence B McCullough

Those of us who work in the field of bioethics tend to think that, because the word "bioethics" is new, so too the field is new in all respects, but we are not the first to do bioethics. John Gregory (1724-1773) did bioethics just as we do it, at least two centuries before we thought to do it. He deployed philosophical methods as sophisticated as our own. Indeed, Gregory took up the very best moral philosophy available to thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, namely, David Hume's moral philosophy and its core concept of sympathy. Gregory also responded in a conceptually powerful and clinically applicable way to the problems of his time, just as we do. I want here to outline Gregory's accomplishment and to identify some aspects of its importance for bioethics in the twenty-first century.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008329	Managed Care Programs	Health insurance plans intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases. The programs may be provided in a variety of settings, such as HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS and PREFERRED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.	Case Management, Insurance,Insurance Case Management,Managed Health Care Insurance Plans,Managed Care,Care, Managed,Managed Care Program,Management, Insurance Case,Program, Managed Care,Programs, Managed Care
D010684	Philosophy	A love or pursuit of wisdom. A search for the underlying causes and principles of reality. (Webster, 3d ed)	Hedonism,Stoicism,Pharmacy Philosophy,Philosophical Overview,Overview, Philosophical,Overviews, Philosophical,Pharmacy Philosophies,Philosophical Overviews,Philosophies,Philosophies, Pharmacy,Philosophy, Pharmacy
D010817	Physician-Patient Relations	The interactions between physician and patient.	Doctor-Patient Relations,Doctor Patient Relations,Physician Patient Relations,Physician Patient Relationship,Doctor Patient Relation,Doctor-Patient Relation,Physician Patient Relation,Physician Patient Relationships,Physician-Patient Relation,Relation, Doctor Patient,Relation, Doctor-Patient,Relation, Physician Patient,Relation, Physician-Patient,Relations, Doctor Patient,Relations, Doctor-Patient,Relations, Physician Patient,Relations, Physician-Patient,Relationship, Physician Patient,Relationships, Physician Patient
D010819	Physician's Role	The expected function of a member of the medical profession.	Physicians' Role,Physician Role,Physician's Roles,Physicians Role,Physicians' Roles,Role, Physician's,Role, Physicians',Roles, Physician's,Roles, Physicians'
D004467	Economics	The science of utilization, distribution, and consumption of services and materials.	Consumer Price Index,Capital,Conditions, Economic,Consumption,Cost of Living,Easterlin Hypothesis,Economic Conditions,Economic Policies,Economic Policy,Economics, Home,Home Economics,Household Consumption,Macroeconomic Factors,Microeconomic Factors,Policies, Economic,Policy, Economic,Production,Remittances,Utility Theory,Condition, Economic,Consumer Price Indices,Consumption, Household,Economic Condition,Factor, Macroeconomic,Factor, Microeconomic,Factors, Macroeconomic,Factors, Microeconomic,Household Consumptions,Hypothesis, Easterlin,Index, Consumer Price,Indices, Consumer Price,Living Cost,Living Costs,Remittance,Theories, Utility,Theory, Utility,Utility Theories
D004992	Ethics, Medical	The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.	Medical Ethics
D006113	United Kingdom	Country in northwestern Europe including Great Britain and the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland, located between the North Sea and north Atlantic Ocean. The capital is London.	Great Britain,Isle of Man
D006664	History	Record and study of past events.	Aspects, Historical,Historical Aspects,Aspect, Historical,Historical Aspect,Histories
D001675	Bioethics	A branch of applied ethics that studies the value implications of practices and developments in life sciences, medicine, and health care.	Biomedical Ethics,Health Care Ethics,Ethics, Biomedical,Ethics, Health Care
D012945	Social Values	Abstract standards or empirical variables in social life which are believed to be important and/or desirable.	Value Orientation,Values, Social,Value Orientations