Beneficence: doing good for others.

Gillon's essay on beneficence is one in a series of British Medical Journal articles on philosophical medical ethics. The duty of beneficence, or doing good for others, figures more prominently in medicine than in most other professions. As important as beneficence is in the physician patient relationship, however, it must be tempered by respect for the patient's autonomy; by the duty of nonmaleficence, or of doing no harm; and by a concern for justice, especially in the allocation of scarce medical resources.