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"Medical Ethics’ Is Ethics By, For And About Medics, Not Common Morality, Says Bioethicist" - Michael Cook

  • Bio Edge
  • New York, NY
  • (September 15, 2019)

The presence of the word “ethics” in “medical ethics” (and “bioethics”) suggests to the hoi polloi that the principles of the latter are derived from the former. Thus, ethical behavior for doctors is the same as ethical behavior for financiers or soldiers or social workers. Doctors do not work in isolation on their own ethical island. In an online article in the Journal of Medical Ethics Rosamond Rhodes, PhD, professor of medical education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said, “A new theory of medical ethics is needed to replace common morality as the standard for understanding how medical professionals should behave and what medical professionalism entails.” She added, “The first and fundamental duty of medical ethics must be to seek trust and be deserving of it. The second duty of medical ethics constitutes medicine’s fiduciary responsibility, that medical professionals must use their medical knowledge, skills, powers and privileges for the benefit of patients and society.”

— Rosamond Rhodes, PhD, Professor, Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

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