The Sisters Hospitallers centres incorporate the principles and values of bioethics in our healthcare decisions as a way to enhance the exactitude and quality of care.
We demand ethical conduct from ourselves in every aspect and every decision concerning healthcare, education, and social care, advocating a bioethical dialogue to clarify the meaning of the principles and criteria common in daily practice.
The ethical side of the congregation’s healthcare and educational activities
Aware of the latest ethical
issues that arise on a daily basis at healthcare centres, we consider ethics
one of our values; Hospitality is, in itself, a fundamental and encompassing
ethical part of our mission, underpinning the ethical dimension of all activity
concerning patients.
Ethics are a factor in all Hospitaller actions and must be guaranteed in the
ends as well as the means.
We have bioethical groups, committees, and commissions to develop the ethical component of our healthcare and educational activities.
Developing ethical values in healthcare and educational practice
Ethics guide our decisions through the application of the following principles and criteria:
- Respect for human dignity: every person deserves dignified treatment and should therefore be treated as an end rather than a mere means.
- Defence of human life: allowing the person to develop fully. In our decision-making process, we consider four ethical principles: the principle of no maleficence, the principle of beneficence, the principle of autonomy, and the principle of fairness.
Defence of rights
Respect for human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the individual must be guaranteed at all our centres. Moreover, from a social responsibility standpoint, we believe it should be promoted in community settings.
As such, the fight against the stigma typically associated with those who suffer from mental disorders, intellectual disabilities, etc. is not an option but an ethical commitment.
