Welcome to Centre of Research : Ethical Campaign
There are a wide range of ethical concerns when it comes to health and medicine and this goes back thousands of years, ranging from the conduct between the patient and doctor, the potential methods that could be used and methods that relate to the research and development of medicine.
At the doctor-patient end of the scale, there are many rules and guidelines related to the relationship between the two parties, with the most documented and oft-referred to code relating to doctor-patient confidentiality.
Hippocratic Oath
| It is highly important that patients have confidence in their health care professionals; that they can trust them to keep matters to themselves. These kinds of codes date back to the times of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans, when thinkers such as Hippocrates set out the ‘Hippocratic Oath’ that doctors still adhere to today. Recently the Hippocratic Oath has been replaced by the Declaration of Geneva. In the UK the General Medical Council (GMC) has laid down a clear code of conduct including Duties of a Doctor amd Good Medical Practice guidelines. |  |
Conflicts of Interest
Doctors should also attempt to make a diagnosis without a conflict of interest. This includes avoiding situations where a conflict of interest might arise, for example the process of diagnosing a family member will lead to an inevitable conflict.
Another example of ethics between the doctor and the patient involves truth telling. In the modern world we can largely expect a doctor or health care professional to be forthcoming when it comes to the illness or condition that someone is suffering from. However, this has not always been the case and in some societies it still isn’t the case. Even in countries such as the USA, there was little emphasis on the truth until the 1970s, before which patients suffering from cancer might not have been told the truth
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Fueling the Debate on Medical Ethics
But ethics can also fall elsewhere as well. Medicine is clearly a large part of the health world and there are ongoing debates concerning the testing of these medicines and treatments on animals. Testing of any treatment is a long and complex process and the debate is likely to remain for many years to come.
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Another debate which consistently finds its way into the media concerns euthanasia. For many years people have debated and argued about the ethical concerns surrounding assisted suicide for patients who no longer want to live. This is also an ongoing debate that will not be resolved any time soon. This shows that health ethics is an evolving and constantly changing concept which will continue to shape the world of health for years to come. |