Medicine and Law

Breaking a moral rule in an autonomous state implies a deliberate and intentional cogitation vis-à-vis the given act. This constitutes. the moral fabric of imposing responsibility and accountability. Legal liability and culpability rests on a similar logic. However, pathological and non-pathological conditions, which create mental instabilities, challenge the notion of autonomous capacity and, consequently, nuance the notion of accountability for violations of civil or legal statutes under such states. On this note, this essay explores the neuroethical implications of crimes committed in the context of mental instabilities...

Being a role model for the people they serve, and within the framework of their managerial duties at their work places, healthcare professionals are expected to carry leadership qualities that need to be emphasized during their professional education. Within the scope of this study, we have examined several researches about the importance of leadership in the field of healthcare. With the spread of globalization and the increase in competition, leadership approaches started to change. These approaches play an important role in healthcare services...

The relationship between public interest and privacy is complex, particularly in healthcare. If public interest overrides the right to privacy, medical staff may be forced to break confidentiality beyond what is permitted by law. Should politicians be excluded from the definition of "patients" when confidentiality is concerned? Should that "exclusion" be broadened to include judges and other public figures, for example, leaders of industry? Would it not be reasonable to entrust a medical team, who may assess their health state and inform the public of their assessment without divulging private medical data? Nothing will prevent any person from revealing their own medical state to the public; nonetheless, it should be at their discretion...

Life and death decisions have always been part of the medical profession. Modem discussions on resource allocation in health care deal with such critical situations, and seek ethical solutions that will benefit individuals and society as well as conserve scarce resources. Deontological ethics and utilitarianism are opposing ethical views, each with its own theory on solving moral dilemmas. Utilitarian logic aims at maximizing the benefit for the greatest number of people, while deontological theories strive to uphold pervasive moral principles...

The traditional Igbo moral education is a system of education that occurs in the context of the family and community, and taught to the child, at a very early age, through taboos, myths, riddles, jokes, proverbs, and through stories that often feature animals and birds. The traditional Igbo moral education emphasizes character formation, communal values -solidarity, relationships, and relational autonomy. Since the advent of the Western system of education, there has been a rush to adopt the Western method of moral education, thus, abandoning the traditional Igbo method...

This paper originates from a panel discussion on the evaluation of the "Ethics Educational Program in Health Sciences" held during the JAEE Conference 2014 Ankara, Turkey. Prior to the panel's discussion, its participants held consultations aimed at solidifying the concepts of the topic. The qualitative data gathered at these consultations matured through the panel members' contribution to the IAEE discussion. The outcome of this qualitative study focuses on the examples of two current curricula; one from a PhD in the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, the other one from an elective course on medical ethics, offered as part of a PhD program on Pharmacy Management and History, and on the major challenges the trainees face during their education, their expectations and whether the program is satisfactory, those aspects of the programs which are prone to improvement and their overall evaluations of the programs...

Today, in Japan, education in medical ethics is urgent for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for doctors, nurses, and medical staffs; however, each institution and hospital determines its own method of ethics training, and a comprehensive and consistent system has not been established yet. This study discusses the nature of the theory and practice employed by the author, as a practitioner, an educator, and a researcher of medical ethics, in providing ethics training in medical institutions and hospitals since 2005...

The motivation to write this article was born out of a keynote lecture given by the author at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada for the "Trends in Forensic Sciences: CSI Windsor 2014" Conference on March 21, 2014. The thesis of the ensuing discussion, as the article's title implies, emphasizes how absolutely essential it is for a forensic expert to embody the highest standards of honesty and integrity when called upon to testify in a court of law. First principles are re-visited and discussed in order that the reader understands the necessity of being familiar with the basic rules that are applicable to expert testimony as well as the moral codes that support the doctrinal underpinnings...

The aims of this study are to present an argument that emphasizes the usefulness of an analysis framework for analyzing public health law and legal systems; identifying methods for improving the application of this framework, including its academic value for public health law; and enhancing the future use of the framework for supporting global health governance. To help formulate the initial analysis framework and tool, we have, along with expert consultations, conducted a literature review on global health governance and public health law...

A review of articles, carefully selected from several databases,was conducted for identifying research findings related to the professional considerations and ethical issues involved respecting the presence of the patient's family during resuscitation in adult intensive care units (ICU), the perspectives of the patients; family members and health care staff. Studies on family presence during resuscitation indicated that the majority of patients desire family members'presence during resuscitation. However, based on professional considerations, the healthcare staff held mixed, and sometimes opposite, opinions...

According to the patient autonomy principle, competent patients should be given the opportunity to choose their treatments, or refuse unwanted ones. The implications of refusing or requesting treatments differ, in both legal and moral terms. Complying with this principle may exemplify challenging issues and some confusion relating to the decision-making processes associated with "End-of-Life" issues. Over the past few decades, health professionals and ethicists have become aware of the confusion caused by the failure to distinguish between the obligation of heal-care professional to respond to the patients' requests for treatment or their refusal to be treated, especially those relating to the "End-of-Life," including Euthanasia DNR {Do Not Resuscitate), and AND (Allowing Natural Death)...

In 2005, in an attempt to regulate care for patients expected to live no longer than six months, Israel enacted the Dying Patient Law. The law sets forth in detail actions that should be performed to respect the patient's wishes, and also defines treatment to be given to patients who have directed that there be no heroic measures taken to prolong life. In some terminal cases, such as a patient who stops breathing or has a cardiac arrest, health care providers are instructed not to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)...

The objective in this exploratory study is to consider the demand for nursing related projects in the Ethics Committees registered on the website of the National Information System Commission about Ethics in Research Involving Human Beings (SISNEP) between 2003 and 2010. The data were collected in two phases: research projects approved in specific Ethics Committees of Nursing Schools/ Faculties registered for at least four years, and projects whose title contained the keywords Nurse and/or Nursing, approved in general Ethics Committees...

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between attitudes, perceptions and behaviours associated with nursing students' academic dishonesty. A cross-sectional study was carried out on a convenience sample of 158 students at an academic college in one of the regular nursing programs taught in Israel. The research instrument was a self-report. Regression analysis was applied to the data. Results showed that about 44% of the students engaged in one or more dishonest activities. Students with a greater fear of dropping out and those with a higher perception of justification of academic dishonesty were more likely to engage in dishonest activities...

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) defined nursing as a sphere integrating autonomous and collaborative care provided to the individual, family, and community within and outside of the care setting. Furthermore, the ICN noted that the profession comprises four major spheres of action: promoting health, preventing illness and treating patients, treating people with disabilities, and providing end-of-life care. The ICN's directives and recommendations for assimilating its Code of Ethics emphasized that the nursing staff and nursing students must understand its clauses, act according to them, discuss them with colleagues and others, and integrate its details in all spheres of action, teaching, administration, and research...

INTRODUCTION: Israel Adoption Law requires absolute confidentiality. This type of adoption is basically prohibited by Islamic laws and thus creates a conflict between the State's Law and the Qur'an's directives. OBJECTIVE: (1) to study the attitudes and barriers with respect to adoption among Jewish and Muslim couples undergoing fertility treatments. (2) To describe adoption rates of children in Israel's sectors. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in fertility clinics among 204 Muslims and Jews treated for infertility...

AIM: To obtain the opinions of health professionals' who work in emergency medical services on the application of basic attitudes like triage,ethics, legal rules; to popularize problems they have encountered or may experience while giving health services after natural disasters; and to develop further suggestions. MATERIAL AND METHOD: In order to evaluate health service problems, laws, triage and ethics applications, a questionnaire tool was formulated. The poll that was taken included 133 emergency service workers, with and without earthquake experiences...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to determine whether age discrimination exists for hospitalized patients. METHODS: This study was conducted on 298 hospitalized patients at the Mersin University Medical Faculty Hospital in Mersin, Turkey, in May 2012. The questionnaire consisted of 8 questions trying to determine patients' socio-demographic attitudes and consisted of 22 items prepared by the authors. RESULTS: It was determined that 54.9% of the patients included in the study were male, 73...

STUDY AIM: To examine the incidence of sexual harassment of women staff by male hospital patients, and how experiencing it differs between doctors, nurses and nurse aides. METHODS: 434 women staff in three large Israeli hospitals completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire on (a) the frequency of sexual harassment by patients, (b) the emotional effect of a described instance of harassment, (c) what action respondents would take if confronted by the same incident...

This paper originates from a panel discussion on the evaluation of "Ethics Educational Program in Health Sciences" held during the IAEE Conference 2014 Ankara, Turkey. The participants of the panel had consultations to solidify the concepts about the topic. The qualitative data out of these antecedent discussions became mature with the contributions in the panel. The outcome of this qualitative study mainly focuses on the examples of two current curricula; one from PhD on History of Medicine and Medical Ethics, the other one from an elective course on medical ethics as a part of a PhD program on Pharmacy Management and History, followed by the major challenges the trainees face during their education, their expectations and whether the program was satisfactory, the aspects of the programs which are prone to improvement and their overall evaluations of the programs...