Nurturing the Virtues: Upholding Professionalism in the Midst of Busy Medical Practice

: Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress' (B&C) book Principles of Biomedical Ethics is well known for its four-principle approach to biomedical ethics. However, the authors also emphasize the importance of the virtues of health care personnel. After a short overview of virtue ethics, the five “focal virtues” described by B&C are discussed and applied to a chronic pain example. The question of how virtues are learned in the health care...