Watching the Responsibility Clock: Medical Care, Ethics, and Medical Shift Work

Handbook of medical ethics. Medical ethics--a social responsibility.

The above approaches certainly have their place but also have their limitations. The repeated invocation of archival material tends to create an impression that ethical edicts are merely of historical significance and are irrelevant today. Some of the historical texts on medical ethics are based on morality, at times even bordering on the spiritual or the religious. This could be a hindrance to...

MEDICAL ETHICS Responsibility in health care: a liberal egalitarian approach

Lifestyle diseases constitute an increasing proportion of health problems and this trend is likely to continue. A better understanding of the responsibility argument is important for the assessment of policies aimed at meeting this challenge. Holding individuals accountable for their choices in the context of health care is, however, controversial. There are powerful arguments both for and agai...

Medical ethics and education for social responsibility.

The physician, said Henry Sigerist in 1940, has been acquiring an increasingly social role. For centuries, however, codes of medical ethics have concentrated on proper behavior toward individual patients and almost ignored the doctor's responsibilities to society. Major health service reforms have come principally from motivated lay leadership and citizen groups. Private physicians have been la...

Night shift work and the cardiovascular health of medical staff.

The cardiovascular risks associated with night shift work in medical staff have been suspected for several years. Kawachi et al. analysed coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence in 79 109 women from the Nurses Health Study, and observed raised rates among night shift workers, particularly those who had worked for 6 years on rotating shifts (51% increased risk). Effects remained significant after...

Nursing ethics and medical ethics.