On Medical Ethics (1)

I have enjoyed reading your journal. It creates a much needed space to reflect on the proposition that true professionalism cannot be divested from obligations of conduct at any stage. This holds good as much for medicine as for law, the media or business management. This holds good even more in cultures where the knowledge base of the professional is out of line with beliefs and knowledge that people make-do-with in order to cope. No wonder that the interface of each of these professions and its clients is generally intimidating. This is especially so in medicine because of the physician’s justified right to intrude into an individual’s mental and physical privacy.

The moral is to shore up the competence to take to self-correcting regulation and uprightedness of medical professionals as a group. But given the quadrilateral that many thoughtful physicians agree faces them, viz. the hypnosis of technology, the siren song of commercialism, status uncertainties inherent in infighting and a great decline in eminent role models; physicians, as a group need help and guidance from outside their profession in anchoring conduct to notions of what is right.

Philosophers, historians, social scientists, policy makers, lawyers and others have to understand and empathise with physicians and help resolve the dilemmas faced by them. It is a long haul. We must set modest milestones and do tenacious networking among those concerned with restoring health and human dignity to the centre.