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 Although the original oath is considered outdated today and revised versions have taken its place in medical schools, just a century ago this was the ethic that determined how doctors should interact with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
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Miles, S. H. (2005). The Hippocratic oath and the ethics of medicine. Oxford: Oxford University
As a junior in high school, I am considering medicine as a possible career choice. Through my research in this field, I discovered the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is the most famous of the Hippocratic documents; it has served as an ideal for the professional attitude and ethics of physicians to the present; the historical origin of the oath is so obscure that even the date of its composition is placed from the 6th to the 1st century B.C.
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...
Despite its popularity in Africa, FGM is under scrutiny by members of the international human rights community. In 1993, female circumcision was deemed harmful by the international Human Rights Conference in Vienna . The World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the UN Population Fund have planned programs designed to “completely eliminate [female genital mutilation] within three generations” , on the basis that FGM is a human rights violation. This gives rise to the obvious question as to whether human rights activists and organizations should be sensitive to the cultural practices of the people of Africa. Some human rights activists have even professed FGM as a “knock-down counterargument to cultural relativism”, and use the practice as an example of how hum...
Medical ethics in general is not a modern term; it goes back in time to the 12th century to the Hippocratic Oath. Recently in the 21st century the interest in medical ethics was provoked by a series of medical scandals: Nazi medical experiments, the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies and so on. After which autonomy in the form of an informed consent was obligatory for minor and major procedures. (2, 3)
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,
Medicine, as a fundamental part of the human life, has existed and has been practiced for many decades. Throughout the centuries, it has dramatically changed and evolved in order to benefit, relieve, and comfort the physical and emotional state of being of the general public. One of these significant changes has been the introduction of ethics in the field of medicine. By definition, ethics refers to "the branch of philosophy that deals with the distinction between right and wrong, with the moral consequences of human actions" (Dirckx, 304). Today, ethics is a large system that is primarily classified into two major parts: professional and personal. Professional ethics divide into few sections, including
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)
The Hippocratic Oath was the example for medical etiquette for centuries and endures in modified form today. There is some uncertainty about when it was composed, the purposed for which it was intended, and the historical forces which shaped the document. It is said to have been written in the fifth century B.C. It's principles have slightly changed, if at all, regardless of the place and time, social systems, or religious beliefs. It is the basis for graduates of medical schools and the health professions all over the world.
In modern American society, women’s rights have become so much of a political controversy that oftentimes we forget the global reality of the female situation: that every decade, more girls are killed simply for being girls than all people in every genocide of the twentieth century combined. This is the reality that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn describe in their novel Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Half the Sky chronicles Kristof’s and WuDunn’s journeys across third world Asia and Africa to uncover the truth about three abuses that afflict the world’s women on a massive scale. Namely, the novel portrays how the devastating realities of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality are based in the cyclically oppressive, ultra-conservative cultures of the third world and lays down a clear path for how we, as citizens of the western world, can help.
In this diverse society we are confronted everyday with so many ethical choices in provision of healthcare for individuals. It becomes very difficult to find a guideline that would include a border perspective which might include individual’s beliefs and preference across the world. Due to these controversies, the four principles in biomedical ethic which includes autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice help us understand and explain which medical practices are ethical and acceptable. These principles are not only used to protect the rights of a patient but also the physician from being violated.
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