The study of ethical problems in medicine using the theories and techniques of moral philosophy. The phrase is also used to refer to the ethical beliefs or habits of doctors and nurses, or to explicit codes governing professional behaviour, such as the International Code of the World Medical Association. The subject has burgeoned over recent decades into an independent discipline with its own specialists, centres, and journals. Most UK and US medical students are now exposed to at least some medical ethics teaching.
Much medical ethics involves the application of moral theories to medical ethical problems.
This is useful not only in promoting understanding of the problem and its possible solutions, but in elucidating and developing the theories themselves. A utilitarian philosopher who believes that welfare should be maximized might be tempted to suggest that a doctor should do whatever she believes to be in her patient's best interests. But when she realizes that her theory may allow the doctor completely to ignore the patient's wishes, she may attempt to incorporate the value of autonomy into her theory, perhaps as part of welfare. Utilitarians have found it difficult to show why infanticide, on their view, can be any worse than abortion. The abortion debate has revolved around the partly Kantian question whether the fetus is a person with rights .