The Ethical Foundations of Patient-Centered Care in Aesthetic Medicine
February 2024
in “
Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine
”
TLDR Aesthetic medicine needs clear ethical guidelines to ensure patient well-being and safety.
The article emphasizes the need for a deontological ethical framework in aesthetic medicine (AM) due to its controversial nature and lack of clear moral boundaries. It highlights challenges such as inconsistent education standards, diverse training backgrounds, practice outside traditional medical settings, and social media's influence on beauty standards. The authors advocate for multidisciplinary discussions to define shared ethical limits, focusing on patient well-being, aesthetic harmony, specialist expertise, safety, and confidentiality. The paper stresses the importance of ethical principles like patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, and calls for a balance between business interests and patient care, recognizing AM as a medical discipline closely tied to ethical conduct.