The relationship between orthopaedic surgeons and the device industry is one that is mutually beneficial and productive. However there are skeletons in the closet. The financial implications of this relationship have come under intense scrutiny. The sponsorships and the financial benefits of this symbiotic relationship have been found to cross the boundaries considered acceptable to ethical practice of the profession. In India, the ethical transgressions resulting from unhealthy associations between the orthopaedic surgeon and the industry have yet to be given due importance. Adequate rules and regulations are yet to be enforced and self-regulation is practically non-existent. It is essential to deal with the problem and potential implications that can arise from this kind of misconduct at the organisational level and enforce them for compliance.
Hysterectomy is performed for a wide range of benign and malignant conditions, such as fibroids, menorrhagia and pelvic pain, and gynaecological malignancies. One in four women has a chance of undergoing hysterectomy in her lifetime. Conventionally abdominal hysterectomy is done through the open approach. However, many patients assume that the modern laparoscopic hysterectomy is superior to the standard approach. Laparoscopic surgical centres are mushrooming in major cities. This article presents ethical considerations involved in the decision-making process of choosing from the surgical options available.
Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which originated in China, is now a full-blown pandemic which has thrown governments and societies off-track in an unprecedented manner. War metaphors have been used widely to describe the scenario, but many critics decry them as harmful narratives. In this piece, we discuss the utility of the war metaphor to build solidarity and fraternity, which will be essential to get through the crisis. We also explain how concerns regarding increased authoritarianism and state excesses due to the use of these narratives are misplaced. We then tease out the colonial era concept of war that guides the arguments against the use of war metaphors in pandemics. We argue that in the post-modern world and in South Asian and African philosophies, wars are seen through the prism of the larger cause of dharma or ubuntu and that individual losses or gains in these contexts are part of a larger cause. The use of war metaphors reflects the need to get together for a societal cause. These metaphors are largely understood across societies while other alternatives are exclusionary, poetic and tangential in nature.
Keywords : Covid-19, pandemics, war metaphors, communication, philosophy, SARS-CoV-2
Malaysia is a South East Asian country with a racially diverse population. Islam is the state religion and about 60% of the population is Muslim, but the rights of other religious groups are protected by law. The Parti Islam se Malaysia, which has ruled the state of Kelantan since 1999, and believes that Malaysia should be ruled by Sharia law, recently proposed the implementation of Hudud laws in Kelantan. However, the federal government has ruled out its implementation. The suggestion stirred up a controversy among the physician community and the Malaysian Medical Association rejected a proposal by the state's political leadership to utilise the services of qualified surgeons to carry out punitive limb amputations. Several Islamic states such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran practice Islamic penal justice, including amputations. The question therefore arises: how should a modern medical practitioner approach this ethical question? This study focuses mainly on Malaysia, but draws upon practices in other Islamic countries also.
Incentives, pay hikes and timely promotions enhance the job performance of an employee. In medical institutes, too, satisfied teachers would train students in a better way leading to better equipped doctors and ultimately, greater patient satisfaction. A study in Malaysia links high levels of satisfaction of employees with good salary, promotions, and incentives.
I would like to thank Dr Adriaan Van Es for his commentary (1) on my article (2). To start with, let me make one thing clear: I am not sure why he thinks that I am condoning the practice of penal amputation. As I clearly state in my conclusion, the arguments that may (or may not) justify penal amputation are abhorrent in liberal societies. We are on the same side here. But what of those who live in less secular societies where religious faith may be unquestioned? In my opinion, van Es has resorted to a typical example of a tortured form of ethical logic (3), which researchers from countries that have different value systems and different problems have deplored, albeit in a different context.
Cosmetic surgery is defined as any procedure involving a change in the appearance or aesthetics of a normal anatomy where there are no congenital or acquired pathologies. The procedures that can be included under female cosmetic genital surgery are the following: reduction labiaplasty, vaginoplasty, hymenoplasty, "G-Spot amplification", and miscellaneous. Those who support these procedures could argue that women undergo such procedures as a matter of choice, whereas those opposed could argue that this choice is made because of society's fascination with physical appearance and feeling young. Prima facie these procedures appear to contradict the Hippocratic principle of "primum non nocere". There has been an increase in the marketing and conduct of the above mentioned procedures. Practitioners need to be both sceptical and cautious while performing these surgeries. Patients requesting them need to be counseled regarding the lack of data supporting their efficacy, and the potential complications of the procedures.
As medicine becomes ever more technologically advanced, "human skills" are becoming increasingly important. Medical ethics or bioethics and medical humanities may have been formally introduced into the curriculum about the same time around the 1970s in certain developed nations. However, in many developing nations, medical/health humanities is much more recent and only came into prominence during the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The term "bioethics" was coined by Potter in 1970 [1]. During the ensuing five decades, however, medical ethics has become the dominant discipline of the two, globally. Medical ethics is more well-known and has greater resources allotted. Medical ethics may be a less radical and more comfortable concept and the study of ethical issues in medical practice may not challenge the traditional knowledge and power structures inherent in medicine. While we have a Centre for Bioethics and Humanities at my present university, I feel a more logical and correct name would be Centre for Humanities and Bioethics, emphasising the greater scope of the humanities.