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Category: Case Studies
April 01, 2007
It is perhaps unfair to subject a study done in the early 1970s to the ethical standards of a later period, and thereby judge it harshly. As has been pointed out, ethics is an evolving concept and in the early 1970s, our understanding of what is ethical and just was deficient. It could even be ar...
April 01, 2007
The post-independence years of the 1950s and 60s were crucial for nutrition scientists in India. A hundred questions required answers and scientists had to resolve them in the shortest time possible, especially after the death toll in the Bengal famine during the second world war.
April 01, 2007
It would be unethical to judge research done in the 1960s and 70s with standards that are used in the year 2007. To assess this study we need to use the then prevailing ethical norms. The Nuremberg Code was enunciated in 1947 and the Helsinki Declaration was adopted in 1964. We must ...
April 01, 2007
The study poses two issues: How do we evaluate the ethical approaches of a study conducted many years ago when ethical guidelines were less clearly defined? Could the same study be conducted today?
January 01, 2007
This article illustrates an ethical dilemma that I faced while treating an 86-year-old woman at her home. The ethical dilemma was caused due to several factors such as the expectations of the client (client/ consumer rights), organisational expectations (employer, governmental and payer-source re...
January 01, 2007
Soon after completing my basic medical degree, MBBS, in 1983, I worked as a house-officer under a physician in a mission hospital in Kerala. One day a patient was admitted with chronic failure of both kidneys. The physician called me and told me that the patient had been admitted for nursing care...
July 01, 2006
The Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order is still not documented legal practice in India. It is a verbal communication between the clinician and the patient's relative or caregiver. The autonomy of the patient also remains a weak concept. Even the right to live a dignified life or die a dignified death...
October 01, 2005
A 25-year-old woman was sent for treatment for Grade II Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, as a result of undergoing super-ovulation with recombinant FSH for In-Vitro fertilisation (IVF) at a private hospital. She was treated conservatively and recovered well.
October 01, 2005
The increasing use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has thrown up a number of ethical dilemmas the world over. The issues raised have been varied. For example, there is the conflict between children's right to know their natural parents and the practice of guaranteeing anonymity to spe...