Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Utilitarianism as an Approach to Ethical Decision Making in Health Care

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Key Concepts and Issues in Nursing Ethics

Abstract

This chapter outlines core characteristics of Utilitarianism and explores them with regard to their significance in healthcare settings. It presents Utilitarianism as characterised by the following five features: (1) consequentialism, (2) welfarism, (3) equality of moral status and impartiality, (4) maximisation, (5) aggregation. It explains the theoretical underpinnings of each of these characteristics, while illustrating them with regard to issues arising in the nursing and wider healthcare context. The chapter concludes with an outline of common themes and considerations in Utilitarian writings with significance for nursing and healthcare practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a discussion of Kantian ethics, one of the most significant deontological ethical theories, please see Chap. 2.

  2. 2.

    Chapter 4 provides a discussion on virtue ethics and nursing practice.

  3. 3.

    For a discussion of resource allocation and rationing in the context of nursing care please see Chap. 12.

  4. 4.

    For further discussion of ethical issues at the end of life please see Chap. 10.

  5. 5.

    For further discussion of ethical issues at the beginning of life, including issues of abortion, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and saviour siblings, please see Chap. 9.

References

  • Alghrani A, Harris J (2006) Reproductive liberty: should the foundation of families be regulated? Child Fam Law Q 18(2):175–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentham J (1789/2010) Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bentham1780.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2016

  • Crisp R (1997) Routledge philosophy guidebook to mill on utilitarianism. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Foddy B, Savulescu J (2007) Ethics of performance enhancement in sport: drugs and gene doping. In: Ashcroft R, Dawson A, Draper H, McMillan J (eds) Principles of health care ethics, 2nd edn. Wiley, London, pp 511–519

    Google Scholar 

  • Glover J (1990) Causing death and saving lives: the moral problems of abortion, infanticide, suicide, euthanasia, capital punishment, war and other life-or-death choices. Penguin, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Greely H, Sahakian B, Harris J, Kessler R, Gazzaniga M, Campbell P, Farah M (2008) Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy. Nature 456(7223):702–705

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harris J (2004) The ethical use of human embryonic stem cells in research and therapy. In: Burley J, Harris J (eds) A companion to genethics. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 158–174

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Harris J (2005) Scientific research is a moral duty. J Med Ethics 31(4):242–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris J (2010) Enhancing evolution: the ethical case for making better people. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhse H, Singer P (1985) Should the baby live? The problem of handicapped infants. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill JS (1861/2008) Utilitarianism. http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1863.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2016

  • Mill JS (1869/2010) On the subjection of women. http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1869.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2016

  • Persad G, Wertheimer A, Emanuel E (2009) Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions. The Lancet 373(9661):423–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rachels J (1975) Active and passive euthanasia. N Engl J Med 292(2):78–80

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Savulescu J (2001) Procreative beneficence: why we should select the best children. Bioethics 15(5–6):413–426

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Savulescu J, Bostrom N (eds) (2009) Human enhancement. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer P (1993) Practical ethics, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Torrance G (1987) Utility approach to measuring health-related quality of life. J Chronic Dis 40(6):593–600

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vehmas S (1999) Discriminative assumptions of utilitarian bioethics regarding individuals with intellectual disabilities. Disabil Soc 14(1):37–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy, School of Humanities and COBRA, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    Heike Felzmann

Authors
  1. Heike Felzmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heike Felzmann .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Vice President for Equality & Diversity, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

    P. Anne Scott

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Felzmann, H. (2017). Utilitarianism as an Approach to Ethical Decision Making in Health Care. In: Scott, P. (eds) Key Concepts and Issues in Nursing Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49250-6_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49250-6_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49249-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49250-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation