| gospa68@aol.com 2005-01-27, 8:51 am |
| Ethical issues in medicine warrant a close look
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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii - As a result of egregious corporate practices for
financial gain that have been reported in the lay press in recent
years, the public has demanded an emphasis on ethics in medicine, said
Susan H. Day, MD, here at Hawaii 2005, The Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting.
The ethical issues facing ophthalmology include co-management
relationships, advertising, commercial relationships, delegation of
services, risk management and technology, Dr. Day said. Technology is
"the mother of all of them," affecting ethical issues not only for
ophthalmology but for all of medicine and all medical doctors, she
said.
Dr. Day said that these issues are likely pondered by many, but there
are also less obvious areas of ethical conflict that also warrant
attention.
"Ophthalmology is increasingly becoming marginalized from the rest of
medicine," she said. "Subspecialization within ophthalmology,
within all of medicine is something that has the great potential to
have a negative impact on how we practice medicine."
Dr. Day thanked the audience for coming to the early-morning session on
ethics that kicked off the Hawaii 2005 meeting.
"Coming to ethics on a Sunday morning at 7:30 in the morning in such
a beautiful place denotes some responsibility on your part," she
said.
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