Ethics entail how human beings carry out themselves in relations to morality and whether what they do is right or wrong. A specific code of ethics guides different professionals about their responsibilities. This paper will look at how principles concerning ethics contribute to the development of health laws. It will additionally analyze the relationship of these principles about health laws in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Ethical Principles on Health
The principles guiding the health sector are Justice, non-maleficence, autonomy, and beneficence. Through justice, the component of fairness is observed with the respect that everyone is human. Scarce resources are allocated equally without favor. The principle of non-maleficence provides for a human being not to be harmed. Thus, a medical authority ought to ensure that people are not harmed by decisions they make. Autonomy involves giving individuals the freedom over themselves, therefore, allowing a patient to make their own decisions. This prohibits a health practitioner from forcing a patient to make a certain choice. Beneficence entails doing well to a patient always thus medics should improve their skills and competences regularly to achieve this.
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Contribution of Ethics on Health Laws
These principles have been a guideline to many laws on health. They form the bas i s on which these laws are formulated. It is essential to follow ethics because it leads to the trust of health institutions (Hall, 2005) . Example of laws influenced by ethics is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Social Care Act of 2012. These are laws from the United States and the United Kingdom respectively.
Laws ought to convey justice to all in the effort to solve health problems. As most health issues are rooted in social injustices, health practitioners are ethically bided to provide service and to address injustice once realized. In the United States through the PPACA, it stipulates for everyone to access basic health care. This law is built under the various ethical principles such as justice. It recognizes the right to access healthcare services by vulnerable groups. These groups consist of women, people living with disabilities, young ones, marginalized communities, and the youth. By this law, the states recognize everyone in the society and seek to act with equality (Sorrell, 2012) . Through this medical aid ought to reach every member of the soc iety regardless of who they are without discrimination.
The making of heath laws entails distributing of health resources. The people are to be at the center stage of decision-making. This includes both the patients and the health provider. In England, this resulted in the formation of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) to allow competition for healthcare provision. It was under the provision of the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. This promotes personal autonomy by a delegation of power to the CCG (Gilbert, 2014) . This allows individuals to have a sense of responsibility for their health.
Conclusion
Ethics form the background for different laws; therefore the formulation of health laws ought to be in line with ethical principles. The principal elements cut across various laws to ensure their effectiveness. The laws are there to control and regulate all practices in the health sector including patient and health practitioner relationships. It is necessary for health practitioners to give service to resolve personal and societal wellbeing.
References
Gilbert, B. J., Clarke, E., & Leaver, L. (2014). Morality and Markets in the NHS. International journal of health policy and management , 3 (7), 371.
Hall, M. A. (2005). The importance of trust for ethics, law, and public policy. Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics , 14 (2), 156-167.
Sorrell, J. (2012). Ethics: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: ethical perspectives in 21st-century health care. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing , 18 (1).
