From the Guidelines
Beneficence is the ethical principle of acting with the intention to benefit others and promote their welfare, as emphasized in recent studies 1. It involves taking positive steps to help people, prevent harm, and remove harmful conditions when possible. In healthcare settings, beneficence guides practitioners to actively contribute to patients' wellbeing by providing appropriate treatments, making recommendations that serve patients' best interests, and balancing potential benefits against risks. This principle goes beyond simply avoiding harm (non-maleficence) by requiring proactive efforts to do good. Beneficence is foundational to many helping professions and humanitarian efforts, reflecting the moral obligation to assist others when we can reasonably do so. The principle recognizes that humans have inherent worth and dignity that should be respected through actions that enhance their wellbeing. In practice, beneficence requires careful consideration of what truly benefits others in their specific circumstances, rather than imposing one's own values or assumptions about what constitutes "good" 1. Some key aspects of beneficence include:
- Providing appropriate treatment following a medical indication
- Taking into account the "overall benefit" and possible results of treatment
- Avoiding disproportionate treatment and prioritizing the patient's wellbeing
- Demonstrating real benefit to the local community in short-term global health experiences
- Balancing potential benefits with potential risks and being mindful of one's own knowledge and expertise. Overall, beneficence is a crucial principle in healthcare and beyond, guiding actions that promote the welfare and dignity of individuals and communities.
From the Research
Definition of Beneficence
- Beneficence is a foundational ethical principle in medicine that involves promoting and protecting a patient's wellbeing, and promoting the patient's interests 2.
- The principle of beneficence directs healthcare practitioners to promote patients' well-being, ensuring that the patients' best interests guide treatment decisions 3.
- It is tied to the patient's best overall interests, whereas the principle of nonmaleficence is tied to the patient's best medical interests only 4.
Components of Beneficence
- Two components of wellbeing are identified: (1) objective functioning/health and (2) the patient's view of her own good 2.
- The principle of beneficence is one of the four main ethical principles, along with nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice 5, 6.
Application of Beneficence
- Understanding how the principle of beneficence can play an important role in medical practice, and how it relates to other principles when they come into conflict, can help clinicians to avoid certain mistakes in thinking about their duties to their patients 4.
- A systematic approach to ethical problem-solving is necessary to resolve conflicts between ethical principles, especially between beneficence and autonomy 6.