What is biomedical ethics?

• A. The field that studies ethical issues in medicine, including autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.
• B. A branch of physics.
• C. A pharmaceutical policy.
• D. A coding system.

Answer: (A)

Biomedical ethics examines how moral values apply to medicine and health care, guiding decisions about patient care, research, and policy. The best description is that it studies ethical issues in medicine, including autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. Autonomy means respecting patients’ rights to make their own choices about treatment, supported by informed consent and honoring their values. Beneficence is acting in the patient’s best interests, while nonmaleficence means avoiding harm. Justice focuses on fair access to care and fair distribution of resources. This field also covers practices like confidentiality, truthful communication, and ethical oversight in research and policy. It isn’t about physics, pharmaceutical policy, or coding systems, which lie outside the core concerns of biomedical ethics.