non-maleficence
Do no damage
Non-maleficence is the principle of doing no harm, central to medical ethics and moral philosophy.
Where beneficence requires actively doing good, non-maleficence demands restraint—avoiding actions that cause injury or suffering.
Doctors invoke it when weighing whether a treatment's risks outweigh its benefits: The principle of non-maleficence guided her decision not to operate.
Freedom from medical harm
- do no harmAvoid causing injury
- Hippocratic oathDoctor's ethical commitment
- malpracticeHarmful professional negligence
- iatrogenicCaused by medical care
adverse effects · informed consent · contraindication · side effects · precaution · medical error · negligence · duty of care
Injury or damage
- bioethicsMoral philosophy for medicine
- moral principleRule of right conduct
- dutyRequired moral task
- obligationRequired task or commitment
Hippocratic · virtue · deontology · consequentialism · autonomy · justice · wrongdoing · negligence
People in experiments
- ethics committeePanel assessing moral standards
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
- clinical trialHuman subject research experiment
- vulnerable populationsGroups disproportionately susceptible to harm
risk-benefit · protocol · safeguards · Nuremberg Code · Helsinki Declaration · research ethics · placebo · deception
Moral guidelines for algorithms
- unintended consequencesUnanticipated outcomes of actions
- safetyFreedom from harm
- precautionary principleProtect first, prove later
- risk assessmentEvaluating likelihood of harm
bias · privacy · surveillance · cybersecurity · data protection · accountability · transparency · robustness
patient safety
Freedom from medical harm
- do no harmAvoid causing injury
- Hippocratic oathDoctor's ethical commitment
- malpracticeHarmful professional negligence
iatrogenic · adverse effects · informed consent · contraindication · side effects · precaution · medical error · negligence · duty of care · standard of care
harm
Injury or damage
- bioethicsMoral philosophy for medicine
- moral principleRule of right conduct
- dutyRequired moral task
obligation · Hippocratic · virtue · deontology · consequentialism · autonomy · justice · wrongdoing · negligence · omission
human subjects
People in experiments
- ethics committeePanel assessing moral standards
- informed consentPermission given with understanding
- clinical trialHuman subject research experiment
vulnerable populations · risk-benefit · protocol · safeguards · Nuremberg Code · Helsinki Declaration · research ethics · placebo · deception · debriefing
AI ethics
Moral guidelines for algorithms
- unintended consequencesUnanticipated outcomes of actions
- safetyFreedom from harm
- precautionary principleProtect first, prove later
risk assessment · bias · privacy · surveillance · cybersecurity · data protection · accountability · transparency · robustness · fail-safe
non-maleficencemaleficence
Deliberate causing of harm
malevolence · harmfulness · cruelty · malice · sadism
non-maleficencemaleficence
Deliberate causing of harm
malfeasance · beneficence · doing good · malpractice · negligence
maleficent, benefactor, beneficent, malefactor, beneficence, maleficence, malefaction