Deck 6: Beneficence

Question 1

The term "___________" refers to acts that contribute to the welfare of others.

A) Nonmaleficence
B) Benevolence
C) Beneficence
D) Justice

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The utilitarian moral theory of _____________ closely associated beneficence with the goal of morality itself.

A) Immanuel Kant
B) David Hume
C) Aristotle
D) John Rawls

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Each of the following is a prima facie rule of obligation supported by the principle of beneficence except:

A) Help persons with disabilities
B) Do not harm others
C) Rescue persons in danger
D) Protect and defend the rights of others

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is true of rules of beneficence?

A) They must be followed impartially.
B) They generally do not provide reasons for legal punishment when agents fail to abide by them.
C) They are negative prohibitions of action.
D) All of the above

Question 5

According to ______________, people have a general "obligation to assist" if it is in their power to do so, without sacrificing other morally important goods, even at significant personal cost.

A) Peter Singer
B) Common morality
C) Beauchamp and Childress
D) W. D. Ross

Question 6

The primary goal of clinical research is:

A) Immediate provision of treatments to those in need
B) Scientific understanding that can lead to sound clinical interventions
C) Monetary profitability
D) All of the above

Question 7

A moral obligation to provide "continued access" to investigational products for former research subjects is often based on:

A) The principle of nonmaleficence
B) The principle of reciprocity
C) All of the above
D) None of the above

Question 8

Because of their indebtedness to society, parents, and teachers, the medical profession's role of beneficent care is best rooted in:

A) Altruism
B) Personal commitment
C) Philanthropy
D) Reciprocity

Question 9

____________ paternalism involves intervention in the life of another person on grounds of beneficence or nonmaleficence with the goal of preventing substantially nonvoluntary conduct.

A) Justified
B) Libertarian
C) Hard
D) Soft

Question 10

____________ paternalism holds that it is both possible and desirable for private and public institutions to influence behavior while also respecting freedom of choice.

A) Justified
B) Unjustified
C) Libertarian
D) Hard

Question 11

According to Beauchamp and Childress, ____________ alone justifies truly paternalistic actions.

A) Hypothetical consent
B) Respect for autonomy
C) Justice
D) Beneficence

Question 12

An act of _________________ occurs when professionals refuse, for reasons of beneficence, to carry out a patient's expressed preference for an intervention.

A) Nonjustifiable coercion
B) Passive paternalism
C) Nudging
D) Deception

Question 13

__________ _________ analysis is a tool used in policymaking, which measures potential benefits in nonmonetary terms, such as quality-adjusted life-years.

A) Cost-effectiveness
B) Cost-benefit
C) Risk-benefit
D) All of the above

Question 14

Which of the following do the authors cite as a potential drawback to instituting a general precautionary principle with regard to new technologies?

A) The failure to develop new technologies may create just as much risk as a failure to stop new technologies.
B) Speculative and theoretical threats may divert attention away from real, albeit less dramatic, threats.
C) Such a principle may be too abstract to give practical guidance.
D) All of the above

Question 15

____________ is a method used in cost-benefit analysis to estimate the monetary value of human life based on a person's revealed and expressed preferences about the value of life.

A) Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA)
B) Willingness to pay (WTP)
C) Discounted future earnings (DFE)

Question 16

In determining quality of life, analysts often start with rough measures, such as:

A) Freedom from pain and distress
B) Capacity to perform the activities of daily life
C) Physical mobility
D) All of the above

Question 17

_____________ requires that agents balance benefits, risks, and costs to produce the best overall result.

A) Utility
B) Positive beneficence
C) Benevolence
D) Justice

Question 18

Which of the following is not listed as a condition that must be satisfied in order to justify hard paternalism?

A) The patient is at risk of a significant, preventable harm.
B) The patient is incompetent to make an autonomous decision.
C) The paternalistic action will probably prevent the harm.
D) There is no morally better alternative to the limitation of autonomy that occurs.

Question 19

The strategy of ______________, devised by John Stuart Mill, states that provisional intervention is justified to ascertain whether a person is acting autonomously, but further intervention is unjustified once it is clear that the person's actions are autonomous.

A) Suicide prevention
B) Communal beneficence
C) Pure autonomy
D) Temporary intervention

Question 20

Which of the following is a necessary stage in risk-benefit analysis (RBA)?

A) Risk identification
B) Risk estimation
C) Risk evaluation
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 21

Many acts of beneficence are not morally obligatory, but rather supererogatory.

Question 22

Often the principle of beneficence permits us to help or benefit those with whom we have special relationships, without thereby obliging us to help or benefit those with whom we have no such relationship.

Question 23

One danger of generalizing obligations of beneficence too widely is that it may divert attention away from obligation to those with whom we have special moral relationships.

Question 24

According to Beauchamp and Childress, obligations of beneficence occur when there are specific individuals who can be helped, but not when only certain members of a larger group can be helped.

Question 25

Because paternalistic acts do not respect the autonomy of patients, they are never justified in medicine.

Question 26

Hard paternalism can occur not only by overriding a patient's stated interests but also by withholding the information necessary for him or her to make an informed decision.

Question 27

The primary danger of policies of libertarian paternalism is a lack of public scrutiny due to their initially appealing nature.

Question 28

According to Beauchamp and Childress, paternalistic actions can be justified on the basis of hypothetical consent (i.e., the notion that a truly rational person would consent to the intervention).

Question 29

Unlike the ordinary expanded access situation, it is unethical to withdraw an effective investigational product from a research subject who has a serious disorder or faces a significant risk of death and who has responded favorably to the investigational product.

Question 30

Advanced directives raise complex issues and occasionally should be overridden.

Question 31

Unlike cost-benefit analysis (CBA), cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) functions best to compare and evaluate different programs sharing an identical aim.

Question 32

Social policies should be based on quantitative, scientific measures, such as rick-benefit analysis (RBA), because such measures are value-free.

Question 33

QALY-based cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) may be discriminatory against older people.

Question 34

Formal techniques of analysis-CEA, CBA, and RBA-can function as morally unobjectionable ways to implement the principle of beneficence in health policy.

Question 35

The term "___________" refers to the character trait or virtue of being disposed to act for the benefit of others.

Question 36

Whereas positive beneficence requires agents to provide benefits to others, ________ requires that agents balance benefits, risks, and costs to produce the best overall result.

Question 37

In health care, many obligations of __________ beneficence arise as a result of the professional relationship of physicians to patients.

Question 38

According to _______ _______, people have a general "obligation to assist" if it is in their power to do so, without sacrificing other morally important goods, even at significant personal cost.

Question 39

__________ ________ programs authorize access of an investigational product to seriously ill persons, even though the product does not have regulatory approval.

Question 40

______________ refers to the act or practice of making an appropriate and often proportional return (benefit for benefit, gratitude for generosity).

Question 41

_____________ refers to intentional nonacquiescence or intervention in another person's preferences, desires, or actions with the intention of either preventing or reducing harm to or benefiting that person.

Question 42

Soft paternalistic policies, like "sin taxes" on cigarettes, can lead to _____________ of population subgroups, sometimes leading to heavy psychosocial costs.

Question 43

___________ paternalism occurs when professionals refuse, for reasons of beneficence, to execute a patient's positive preferences for an intervention.

Question 44

When there is a duty to ________, the obligation to help, in the absence of significant risk or cost to the agent, eliminates the agent's discretionary choice.

Question 45

According to B&C, the ________ epidemic demonstrates the need for broader RBA than often thought even though it may inevitably be less formal and less systematic than desired because of the wide range of potentially relevant factors.

Question 46

The term "_________" refers to the probability of possible future harm, where harm is defined as a setback to interests, particularly in life, health, or welfare.

Question 47

A __________ __________ _________ _________ (QALY) is a calculation that takes into account both the quantity and quality of life produced by medical interventions.

Question 48

So-called ______ _________ risks are acceptable risks because they can be interpreted as effectively zero (e.g., 1 cancer/million).