Applying the Four Principles of Bioethics

Part 2 Evaluation 

The most pressing of the four principles according to a Christian worldview in these cases is Beneficence. The concept of Beneficence preventing harm by doing good ( Beauchamp, & Childress, 2013) . The reason as to why it is the most pressing of the four principles is the fact that the aim of all Christian, in this case, is to prevent any more harm from happening to James. According to Christians, worldview prayers can work miracles to heal James. However, prayers do not work when Mike and Joanne take James for prayers, and James condition deteriorates. The only solution to James condition is a kidney transplant, and the nephrologist suggests that they should get a donor as soon as possible. Some Christians from Mike’s church offer to donate a kidney to James. The aim is saving mike from much troubles in life. 

As demonstrated above, Christian worldview of the fundamental principles in this case study is to prevent any more harm from happening to James. A Christian worldview is that James needs help from God to be healed from the illness and thus preventing from being terminally ill. Christian believe that praying for a miracle will help improve James conditions. Beneficence requires one to promote the well-being of the patients. In this case, the physician aim was first to conduct tests to determine the condition that James was suffering from. The second thing was to propose the best treatment alternative to Mike and Joanne. 

Question 2 

According to a Christian worldview, a Christian might rank the priority of the four principles from Beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence to Justice, and fairness ( Beauchamp & Childress, 2013) . Beneficence means that each Christians would want James health to be improved. It would be a priority to have the James condition being addressed either through prayers or through treatment at the hospital. The second most important of the four principles was autonomy. After James Physician outlines all the possible options that Mike and Joanne had on addressing James condition, the doctor gives the parent a chance to make their own decision. The parent took the responsibility to decide to take James for healing prayers instead of pursuing medical option first. Nonmaleficence is the third on the rank, meaning that it would be important to inflict the least pain in the process of treating James. The Christian worldview is that James should be healed employing the least possible harm. Mike and Joanne see prayers as the least harming process of trying to achieve good health. However, they end up making the condition worse. At last James end up taking dialysis and requiring a kidney transplant which causes harm in the process of reaching for a beneficial outcome. The least of the four principles, according to Christians world view is Justice and fairness. The Christians in the situation are less concerned about Justice. However, after visiting the care facility for the second time, the doctor treated them with fairness just because the doctor understood James condition 

References 

Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2013). Principles of biomedical ethics . 7th Edition Oxford University Press, USA.