The major principles of medical ethics can be easily remembered by the mnemonics of ABCDEF. Which of the following is incorrect?
A. A is autonomy: physicians must respect a patient’s right to make decisions regarding his medical care.
B. B is beneficience: doctors must act in the best interests of patients
C. C is confidentiality: doctors must maintain the confidentiality of medical information
D. D is do no harm (non-maleficence): doctors must refrain from providing ineffective treatments or acting with malice toward patients.
E. E is equality (distributive justice): doctors should normally allocate resources justly, however, in the face of limited health care resources, physicians should only treat those who can self-finance the treatment as the priority.
F. F is fairness (procedural justice): the process for making decisions for patients must be fair and just
Answer: E
E is Equality: The principle of distributive justice deals with issues of treating patients equally. Physicians should treat similarly situated patients similarly and allocate resources justly. In the face of limited health care resources, physicians should practice cost-effective medicine. Physicians should make recommendations and decisions based on ethically pertinent considerations. This principle is mostly relevant in public health funding allocation or major disease outbreaks when resources may be limited.
Reference
Office of Educational Technology, UCSF School of Medicine