HOME
Category: Letters
April 01, 2011
Susan M Reverby has unearthed a glaring example of unethical research, carried out by the United States Public Health Service and co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Pan American Health Sanitary Bureau and the Guatemalan government in 1946-48. In this study of the effectiveness...
April 01, 2011
The National Bioethics Conference felicitated Sunil Pandya, Vasantha Muthuswamy and Chandra Mohan Gulhati for their work in medical ethics (1). Such recognition to deserving mentors will infuse life into the field and project the nobility of medicine in the eyes of the local as well as the intern...
April 01, 2011
The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations was recently amended regarding the relationship between doctors and professional associations of doctors and the pharmaceutical and allied health sector industry. Many of these amendments are not practical. For ex...
April 01, 2011
The news about the patently unethical trials carried out in Guatemala by researchers from the United States underscores the continuing necessity to regulate human research, inspire public trust, and strengthen existing protections for research participants in all countries, rich and poor. This is...
April 01, 2011
This was the scene in an accident and emergency department in a tertiary hospital of New Delhi: the patient had sustained poly-trauma in a high-speed road traffic accident, but lay unattended, on the road, because the police had not arrived, and bystanders did not attempt to help the victim for f...
April 01, 2011
It is increasingly common to find medical students taking bedside clinical pictures or videos of patients. It is not unusual to find even groups of students doing this, during or after a clinical class. The recent surge in the usage of cell phones with cameras, and the increasing lack of sensitiv...
January 01, 2011
A recent editorial in IJME highlighted the scandalous actions of office bearers of the Medical Council of India (MCI). The MCI's image was tarnished following reports of corruption concerning its president. When a person noted for corruption has manned the post for so long, the standard of medic...
January 01, 2011
I have been practising medicine for 50 years and I have always considered myself a stickler for medical ethics. I learned from your issue of April-June, 2010 that, at least in two aspects, I have been guilty of unethical practices. I have no intention of changing my habits in the rest of my profe...
January 01, 2011
The letter on surgical training in India ought to open the eyes of surgical teachers in myriad departments in the country. In the absence of a structured theory and practical curriculum, it is left to the devices of teachers and their goodwill, the enthusiasm of students and their wi...
January 01, 2011
Vijay Mahajan has succinctly put into words the decrepit and deplorable state of medical education and practice in India. One need not even scrutinise the references for most of the facts that he states: they are common perceptions to all concerned.