Ethical issues in medicine

Abstract

A recent issue of a journal if the Philosophy and Ethics if Medical Practice, which is published under the title of THE LINACRE QUARTERLY by the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds in North America as their official periodical journal carried a "President's Page" on the intriguing subject of 'THE NEW ETHICS'. I have thought that it could and might be quite conducive to the theme of our Seminar to bring to your attention and reflection a few paragraphs from Dr Andrew Peters's observations on what he chose to term 'The New (Medical) Ethics'. Dr Peters remarks that when he first started practising medicine 25 years ago, there were few medico-moral issues. He would be asked to pronounce a patient at home or be called to the scene of an accident to examine a victim; hospital patients were given every opportunity and benefit of professional medical abilities, and if and when they died it was not because of a lack of expertise on the part of the medical teams.