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Why Doctors Hate Medical Ethics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2009

Myles N. Sheehan
Myles N. Sheehan
Affiliation:
Medicine and member of the Divisions on Aging and Medical Ethics, Harvard Medical School, and Associate Physician, Gerontology Division, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston
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Extract

For the past 3 years, since acquiring formal training in healthcare ethics and philosophy, I have been one of those physicians who “does” ethics. I teach medical students and residents, write articles, speak at conferences, chair an ethics committee, and informally consult with colleagues on cases where they request advice related to ethical issues in the care of patients. These activities have been a rewarding and challenging part of my practice. There has also been a fair amount of frustration. Unfortunately, both in teaching and patient care, it has been a frequent experience to finish a discussion with physicians only to be told that what I said was nice but had no bearing in the real world. In the words of a medical resident: 'You know, this ethics stuff is really a lot of crap, isn't it?'

Type
Bioethics Education
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , Spring 1994 , pp. 289 - 295
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

Notes

1. Kass, LR. Practicing ethics: where's the action? Hastings Center Report 1990;20(1):5–12. Quote at pp. 8–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

2. See note 1. Kass, . 1990;20 (1):11.Google Scholar