ABOUT IMMANUEL KANT

Will I rationally command everybody to do what I want them to do? If the response is no, we do not carry out the action. (ii) Does my behavior honor individual goals rather than using them for my own gain? Again, if the response is no, we must refrain from carrying out the procedure.

Kant is regarded as one of the best thinkers of all time; he proposed that a moral system could be created using logic. Kant taught (rather sanguinely) that every cogent human being could determine individually and therefore did not need to be contingent on God or their community or anything else to determine what was ethical and what was immoral.

Implications for the Medical Practice

- Kantian ethics imply that all human beings should be treated as free and equal members of a shared moral community.

- In this case, individuals should be treated as means and not an end.

- Doctors should treat individuals as it is their duty; treating individuals in the right manner without the consideration of the benefits or risks accruing to them as a result.

- The duty to care has been integrated into modern doctrines of medicine; “A person who decides to become a physician takes on the promise of using his or her abilities to the best advantage”

Issues with Kant’s Philosophies in Future Medical Practice

- There is still a lack of consensus on the extent of the duty of care to patients; should doctors expose themselves to risks in the interests of the right thing?

- The context of duty of care changes rapidly when considered within the crisis context; in many cases, clinicians have distanced themselves from their duties in risks of contracting deadly diseases.

- In this regard, there is the need to establish the limits of these theories.