From a researcher or policymaker's point of view and on an international scale, policy analysis and management professor Andrea Parrot stresses that ethics are culturally and historically determined. When members of one culture try to impose their ethics and values on another culture, the situation is inherently complex.
Parrot is an expert in cultural practices and the risks encountered in attempting to change them. She is currently writing a book on the topic with Nina Cummings, health educator and victim advocate at Gannett University Health Services at Cornell. Forsaken Figures: The Global Brutalization, Oppression, and Violence against Women catalogues, describes, and analyzes all manner of violence, subjugation, and gendercide against women from a global perspective. Many practices and cultural norms around the world, such as female genital mutilation, sexual slavery, and feticide/infanticide of female babies, are perceived as wrong by outside cultures, Parrot says. She is interested in determining how outside policymakers might begin to address what they see as problems when their own cultural language is vastly different from that of the communities and countries in which the practices are tolerated or even supported.
Parrot points out that American values and ethics have changed significantly in the past century. In the early twentieth century, for example, every doctor took the Hippocratic oath, which stated that doctors would not perform abortions, use a knife, or give patients information that could harm them in any way. Although the original oath is considered outdated today and revised versions have taken its place in medical schools, just a century ago this was the ethic that determined how doctors should interact with patients.
Culture influences ethics as much as changing times do, Parrot points out. In Canada, the United Kingdom, and many other countries with nationalized health insurance, the foremost medical ethic is justice, or equal access to health care. In the United States, where there is no standardized universal health care, equal access is one of the least important ethical principles considered; instead, autonomy is paramount. In most situations, patients have the final word on whether a medical procedure is performed on them or not. The reverse is true, as well — patients can seek out a particular medical treatment and demand it, even if a doctor does not recommend it. If one doctor will not perform the procedure, the implication is that the patient can, and will, shop around until he or she finds a doctor who will.
According to Terrence F. Ackerman, as of the 1980s the American Medical Association had to include the respect for a person’s autonomy as a principle of medical ethics (Ackerman 14, 1982). This includes having the physician provide all the medical information to the patient even if the information could cause negative implication onto the patient. The physician is also expected to withhold all information of the patient from 3rd parties (Ackerman 14, 1982). Although it is seen as standard in today’s world, in
Even since ancient times, it was recognized that doctors had power over their patients, and that there must be ethical implications coming with this responsibility. This was first represented in the Hippocratic Oath, which was created by an Ancient Gree...
After reading the classic and modern Hippocratic Oath, it is my contention that the modern vision is still applicable today. First of all, I appreciate the humility of the oath because this oath reminds physicians that they are caring for people not just illness: “I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability” (Tyson, 2001). Sometimes, patients get lost in the shuffle of medicine; they are much more than an illness and need to be treated as such. Patient centeredness is reflected in this oath.
In conclusion, every patient is worried about their rights to care but not so much are focused on the rights of the physicians providing the care. It is hard to establish a respectable practice if you are required to perform care for instances in which you object or do not want to be a part of. This detracts from the ethical background of practice and procedure every physician should hold to the highest standard.
Garrett, Thomas, Baillie, Harold, and Garrett, Rosellen. Health Care Ethics; Principles and Problems. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice Hall, 2001.
Pitta, A. D., Fung H., Isberg S. (1999). Ethical Issues Across Cultures: managing the differing
Hippocratic Oath was earliest code of ethics to govern conduct in medicine. Unlike many modern professional codes, its intent was to describe a moral vision for members of the medical community rather than to protect members of the community from incurring on the law. This oath and AMA medical ethics are similar as the primary goal of both codes of ethics is to give full benefit to the
Advocating for diverse patients is important. In this paper I will be discuss a personal ethical dilemma in which I have encountered. I will give an objective interpretation of both my side as well as my patient’s side of the dilemma. Then I will describe the conflicting values and beliefs that I and the patient had. Then I will give the information I was lacking concerning the patient’s culture. Lastly, I will define culturally congruent care.
In this chapter Dr. Thomas Percival is introduced. Percival first debuted the term “medical ethics.” Percival himself was an advocate of the classical decorum. He believed in the importance of the truth and emphasized sympathy, equality and patience. Chapters six and seven illustrates medical ethics in America. American doctors in this time were either self-taught or apprenticeship-trained. During these chapters the development of proper schools and education were initiated by the American Medical Association. In addition, the first anesthesia was introduced and debates soon began to spark in the world of medicine. The first concerning the unethical practice of inoculation. Then the discussion of abortion and later the use of anesthesia. Yet, in the very last chapter, Jonsen introduces a series of events which radically transformed the field of
Over the span of half a century, the medical profession has witnessed a catastrophic shift in the patient-physician relationship. As the manufacturing of new pharmaceuticals and the number of patients under a physician’s care continue to rise, doctor’s are finding it difficult to employ the time-honored principles listed within the Hippocratic Oath. This oath, written in 430 BC by the Greek Physician, Hippocrates, was the first document to state the responsibilities of a physician to his patient (vadscorner, pg 2). Hippocrates believed that it was the physician’s duty, as a healer, to treat the patient infected with the disease to the best of his ability, and not to treat the disease (Hippocrates, pg 1 ). He believed that the patient was, above all, the most important aspect involved in the healing process. With the rise in the number of patients under a physician’s care and the stringent rules by which each doctor must abide, many doctor’s are finding that they are unable to devote ample time to become acquainted with their patients (spiralnotebook, pg 1). Furthermore, as newly acquired information regarding illnesses becomes available on the internet, patients are seeking the advice of multiple physicians (Changing, pg 3). These differences between patients and their physicians, as well as numerous others, have caused rifts in the patient-doctor relationship.
Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest binding documents in history, and it is still held sacred by physicians to help the ill, to preserve a patient's privacy, but most importantly it is taken by doctors swearing to practice medicine ethically. Practicing medicine ethically might have been very sacred centuries ago, but unfortunately it is not the case in today's society especially in the United States. Doctors in the United States face more than just high education costs, liability insurance payments, and long hours of work just to stay on top of the latest advancement in medical technology, but many of them also have to deal every day with insurance companies that do not want to cover their patients recommended treatments. A doctor's duty is to help people and practice medicine ethically, but that is impossible with the chaos that is happening in the American health care industry and a serious reform is needed such as the accepting the Patient Protection Affordability Care Act. The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23rd, 2010 by Barrack Obama, but some do not agree with the "obamacare" are on the fast track to repeal the bill. The law would focuses on the health care reform in the United States by providing better coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, improving prescription drug coverage, but most importantly giving every person access to recommended preventative services without cost. (Department of Health and Human Services)
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Aggression and violence can stem from several reasons, often from a primal hatred for a person that is different than the perpetrator. These attacks can fall under several categories, like aggression towards a homosexual out of homophobia, aggression towards a member of the other race out of racism, and violence towards the other sex out of misogyny or misandry. It is a recognized issue though, that when it comes to gender based aggression, its fury “disproportionately victimizes women and girls” (MacKinnon). The term “violence against women” was created to fit this definition, a phrase that has in recent years recognized as a worldwide issue. A more formal definition created by the United Nations (UN) states that violence against women is “"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life," (“Fact”). The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that as many as 35% of all women in the world have experienced some form of violence, sexual or not, and while 38% murdered women were killed by an intimate partner, only 6% male murders were committed by their counterpart (“Fact”) (“Violence”). The United Nations (UN) created the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) under which the general recommendation no. 19 states that participating countries should see that laws mandating violence against women provide adequate protection for the victims, and see that there are effective methods of legal action and punishment for perpetrators (Handbook, 5). Such international action cannot be ignored, and to say t...
McGee, Glenn and Arthur L. Caplan. "Medical Ethics." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Medical ethics refers to the relationship between health professionals and patients. The trust of patients in physicians has been vanishing. Today a lot of health care providers primary concerns seem to be in profit rather than in providing the proper healthcare to the public. Medical ethics consist of several different principles. Nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and autonomy are just a few of the many principals. Nonmaleficence enacts that a health care providers, can never use treatment to injure or wrong their patients. Beneficence claims that health care providers are obligated to help others further their interest. Justice requires health providers treat every patient as equal and provide equal treatment for everyone with the same