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Unethical practices of medical practitioners
Mahmood, Dr. Atif Mukhtiar, Dr. Salina
Mahmood, Dr. Atif
Mukhtiar, Dr. Salina
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EJAIB72011.pdf
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"Before discussing unethical practices, it is very important to understand what an ethical practice or behavior means. An ethical behavior is characterized by honesty, fairness and equity in interpersonal, professional and academic relationships and in research and scholarly activities. Ethical behavior respects the dignity, diversity and rights of individuals and groups of people [1]. A deviation from this behavior can be termed as unethical. The distinction between ethical and unethical becomes particularly important in context of health care providers especially medical practitioners as their decisions have direct implications on their patients and their families. The medical profession was considered the noblest profession, but this is now seemingly being more of a myth then a reality. Nowadays, medical practitioners are involved in many practices that do not conform to accepted standards of social or professional ethical behavior. What leads to this diversion from the actual ethical practices by doctors is surely something to be thought upon. The diverse non-conforming actions by the doctors can be grouped together under several heads, which not only includes accepting precious gifts that are personal, as well as for families, from the drug manufacturing companies; accepting international sponsorships; getting clinic renovations; but also include deception with patients by prescribing unnecessary medications, injections and performing needless avoidable or fake surgeries. The latest act of bribing is payment of fellowship fees of Postgraduate students. These are just a few examples of how the pharmaceutical industry bribes these doctors to prescribe specific products belonging to a certain company. The irony of the whole situation is that these practices are not only common but also ignored and even considered justified by medical practitioners as well as by the pharmaceutical industry. They do not realize the effects it has on our lives as patients. General practitioners or consultants; all are equally involved in these practices. Fortunately, there is still a small group of doctors who have not only kept up to their dignity and ethical aspect of their work, but are also trying their level best to keep their colleagues away from such practices by creating awareness. These doctors are concerned about the growing influence of medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies on healthcare industry. A variety of opinions arise when it comes to the debate of deciding on what is ethical and what is unethical. Off course, there are different schools of thought and it is very difficult to build a consensus on any given scenario. Even doctors belonging to the same school of thought appears to have confronting thoughts regarding certain issues involving ethical dilemmas. Physician-pharmaceutical interaction is the center of most bioethical discussions all over the world until now. There has been a long and ongoing debate to stop the doctors, if possible, from direct interactions with the drug industry and, if not, then the least that can be done is to try to make them realize the slippery slope nature of these interactions. It has now become a common understanding of all those utilizing the platform of bioethics to stop and prevent one to one interaction between the doctors and pharmaceutical industry. The seriousness of the situation alarms the need to create awareness in doctors who apparently are not aware of the sensitivity of the issue. This article hopes to highlight some of the reasons given by doctors in justification for these unethical practices and will help address these reasons on any platform where creating awareness among doctors will be the main agenda."(pg 129)
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2011-07
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With permission of the license/copyright holder