What is beneficence?

What is beneficence?

• A. Obligation to seek good and do the best thing for your patients
• B. Do no harm
• C. Ensure patient confidentiality
• D. Allocate resources fairly

Answer: (A)

Beneficence is the obligation to seek good and actively promote the patient’s welfare—doing what will best benefit them, offering effective treatments, and taking steps to improve health and alleviate suffering. This is why the statement about seeking good and doing the best thing for your patients fits beneficence most directly: it emphasizes proactive actions to support the patient’s well-being. Other options represent related but distinct ethical duties. Do no harm describes nonmaleficence, the duty to avoid causing injury or suffering. Ensuring patient confidentiality concerns privacy and trust, not the positive act of benefiting the patient. Allocating resources fairly relates to justice, the principle of fair distribution of care and benefits. In practice, beneficence guides choosing interventions that maximize benefit while weighing risks, always aiming to improve the patient’s health and well-being.

Beneficence is the obligation to seek good and actively promote the patient’s welfare—doing what will best benefit them, offering effective treatments, and taking steps to improve health and alleviate suffering. This is why the statement about seeking good and doing the best thing for your patients fits beneficence most directly: it emphasizes proactive actions to support the patient’s well-being.

Other options represent related but distinct ethical duties. Do no harm describes nonmaleficence, the duty to avoid causing injury or suffering. Ensuring patient confidentiality concerns privacy and trust, not the positive act of benefiting the patient. Allocating resources fairly relates to justice, the principle of fair distribution of care and benefits. In practice, beneficence guides choosing interventions that maximize benefit while weighing risks, always aiming to improve the patient’s health and well-being.