Virtues in healthcare: contributions from Pellegrino and Thomasma

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of Pellegrino and Thomasma’s proposal to use virtues as a bioethical
framework, especially in clinical bioethics. The authors suggest that a view purely based on principles
or duties is insufficient, especially in healthcare. Good health professionals have certain virtues that
empower and impel them to follow ethical principles and be better people, which invariably helps them
achieve the goals of medicine. Thus, an approach that considers the convergence between virtues and
principles moves away from an instrumentalized view of medicine and changes the emphasis from
ethical analysis to the professional and how their character and conduct contribute to the interests of
the patient, whether determined by medicine or by their personal aspirations and inner values.