Final answer:
Medical ethics is the basis for the expectations and obligations between medicine and society. It encompasses moral principles and care ethics, which stress the importance of compassion and shared decision-making in the field of healthcare. Medical ethics ensures proper conduct in areas like patient consent, research, and addressing healthcare inequalities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The medical ethics in healthcare serves as the basis for the expectations/obligations between medicine and society. Medical ethics, a component of bioethics, defines the myriad moral commitments and philosophical stances that govern the relationship between the medical profession and the individuals it serves. In medical ethics, concepts like care ethics emphasize the roles of compassion, sympathy, kindness, and responsibility in health-related scenarios. This ethical framework encourages mutual understanding and collaborative decision-making where all involved parties discuss and reflect upon the values at the core of medical practice.
Furthermore, the social contract is an underlying philosophical concept that involves accepting moral and political obligations as a member of society, which can be applied to the expectations in healthcare. Issues such as informed consent, life-ending assistance, and ethical research form the backbone of discussions in medical ethics. When analyzing healthcare systems such as Medicare which is designed for those over sixty-five years old, the ethical considerations of allocation and access to healthcare become prominent.
Despite the scientific approach of biomedicine and its dependency on the scientific method, it is important to recognize that culture and systemic biases, such as racism, sexism, and classism, can influence its application and lead to healthcare inequalities. The theoretical perspectives of conflict, interactionist, and functionalist all contribute to the understanding of these inequalities in healthcare systems.