The question of moral responsibility and Physician practice in Nigeria

Abstract

Man is composed of many complex units or organs with diverse functions. Health challenges are bound to arise as a result of his daily interaction with his/her environment. These necessitate the study of different discipline to help overcome most of these challenges. This paper is concern with those trained in the field of medicine with the aim of providing solution or treatment to man health maladies or challenges. It has been discovered that physician who swore to an oath of maleficence beneficence, to respect the authority of their clients and adhere to the principle of confidentiality, are equally expected to operate side by side the societal moral demands. It is the position of this paper that inspite of man created as a rational and free moral agent, upon which the physician should be free to make his choice as regards the course of medical treatment to be meted to who in view of the scarce medical resources, saddled him with difficulties in reaching decision. Hence, appeals to Utilitarian principles, Kant ethical principles, the Ross ethical principles, Rawls ethical principles etc, to buttress the argument of the challenge of moral responsibility standing against the physician in his practice of medicine. It is the position of this paper that before subjecting physicians actions to the scrutiny of moral praiseworthiness or blame worthiness, certain questions such as: is the physician really free to act out of his volition, does he have alternative choice to make, is he under any influence, what is his state of mind, is he mentally alert and so on? Must be taken into cognizance to guide our attempts at resolving it. The expository, analytic and critical methods are used to draw the paper to a close.