Principlism as a tool for addressing communication issues in health and social care

The concept of principlism is defined by Keeling and Bellefleur (2016), as “a normative ethical framework designed for practical decision making in health care.” They also highlight the approach as focusing “on what people generally agree upon” - in the form of mid level principles, and refer to Beauchamp and Childress’ statement (1994:17), that “ the rules and principles shared across these theories, typically serve practical judgment more adequately than theories”, as well as highlighting the fact that “often little is lost in practical moral decision making by dispensing with general moral theories.” Balancing principles from a practical perspective, is required for sound decision making, rather than approaching it from a purely theoretical perspective. This is particularly important in contexts where ethical principles conflict with one another. As well as explaining the four individual ethical principles, this paper highlights how such conflicts occur. Further, questions relating to the balancing of ethical principles – as well as communication barriers and issues will addressed.