Ethics obv change over time and culture and represent a huge field of philosophy, but there is currently a 4 point framework of medical ethics used by the medical community:
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These principles are 1) beneficence 2)non-maleficence 3) patient autonomy 4)justice/human rights. All of these can be analyzed at the individual and societal level.
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In the current case, that of a syracuse hosp doing a flex sig on a police detainee against his will, here's the poop:
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1) beneficence: did the doctor act in the best interest of the patient? Who defines this? This is generally taken to mean tho that the goal of care is to help the patient. Not the family, not the hospital, not the state. The patient.
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2) non-maleficence: primum non nocere, first do no harm. The default for docs is don't hurt people. Not only shouldn't you hurt people, you should protect your patient from harm. The doctor here failed. Miserably. But see #4
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3) autonomy: as opposed to paternalism, autonomy recognizes the right of every individual to decided what is or is not done to them by doctors. Any violation of autonomy better be preceded by a damn good ethics consult.
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4) Justice: doctors must think of what is just and right for their patients and for society as a whole. Now in this case perhaps the state intimidated the doctor into violating this patients rectum. Perhaps this mitigates his guilt...
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...not everyone can be a hero. Was the doctor here on a limited visa and worried he could be deported? That doesn't justify the rape of the patient, but it does help explain it.
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When doctors become tools of the state, we have lost our profession completely and probably forever. Authoritarian societies have always used doctors as tools, and it always takes years to regain a shred of trust.
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End of conversation
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Nice summary of the framework for medical ethics.
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