Medical ethics across traditions

Medical ethics — the framework of values and principles that guide clinical decisions — is not the exclusive property of Western bioethics. Principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice appear in various forms across Ayurvedic, Islamic, Confucian, African, and Indigenous medical traditions, often with different emphases: some traditions prioritize the community over the individual, others integrate spiritual duty into clinical obligation. Understanding how different ethical frameworks approach the same dilemmas — informed consent, end-of-life care, resource allocation — enriches our capacity to reason well in the genuine complexity of medical situations.