Imagination, literature, medical ethics and medical practice.

Imagination, literature, medical ethics and medical practice.

Without imagination-without an actively cultivated imagination-not only do health care workers themselves suffer, but so too do their patients, argues Dr Anne Scott in this issue of the journal.' 2 Why? Because only by being able to imagine what it is like to be the other person, the patient, only by being able to enter imaginatively into the world of the patient, is the health care professiona...

Medical ethics and medical practice: a social science view.

This paper argues that two characteristics of social life impinge importantly upon medical attempts to maintain high ethical standards. The first is the tension between the role of ethics in protecting the patient and maintaining the solidarity of the profession. The second derives from the observation that the foundations of contemporary medical ethics were laid at a time of one-to-one doctor-...

Buddhism and Medical Ethics: Principles and Practice

Medical ethics and Islam: principles and practice.

A minimum level of cultural awareness is a necessary prerequisite for the delivery of care that is culturally sensitive. In this paper we simplify and highlight certain key teachings in Islamic medical ethics and explore their applications. We hope that the insights gained will aid clinicians to better understand their Muslim patients and deliver care that pays due respect to their beliefs.

Imagination and medical education.

Rival and apparently exclusive views have been canvassed about the instrumental use of the humanities in medical education. The novel is seen as offering exemplifications of moral principles on the one hand, whilst on the other such an approach is said to miss the essence of reading a novel by misrepresenting the engagment of the reader. The use of the humanities in medicine as a stimulus to re...