Professor and Head, Dept of Surgery, Saraswathi Institute of Medical Sciences, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh
Online published on 19 November, 2012.
Every now and then a hue and cry is raised in media by public regarding the medical ethics, and obviously in a negative sense. The highlighting of unethical practices by the doctors in Aamir Khan's show Satyamev Jayate has added fuel to it. This has led to widespread debate in the country on medical ethics. This urged me to pen down my experience with medical ethics as a common man. As of now,majority of clauses of code of medical ethics, 2002,as displayed on MCI website have lost its significance and it is high time that this code of ethics for doctors should be rewritten and simplified.
When I got a permanent registration from Medical Council of India, way back in 1982, much importance was given to the Hippocratic oath, as far as medical ethics was concerned. In fact, we observed keenly as our teachers dealt with a patient with dignity, compassion and competence and we learnt about the proper and practical ethics by default. With the overall deterioration in standard of medical education, it is rare these days to find such a breed conscientious teachers. Unless we focus our attention on medical education we will not get doctors with a sense of responsibility for patient care1 and formulating any code of medical ethics will be futile. Another important development in the recent past has been the inclusion of medical profession under consumer protection act 1986. On 13.11.95 in Civil Appeal No 688 of 1993, in Indian Medical Association v. V.P. Shantha, the Supreme Court held that, doctors are covered by the Consumer Protection Act, and that the patients aggrieved by any deficiency in treatment, diagnosis, consultation from both private clinics and Government hospitals, are entitled to seek compensation under the Consumer Protection Act (except where a doctor provides his service free of charge). From here started the era of professionalism in medical field. With time the Hippocratic oath has lost its significance and has been replaced by Declaration of Geneva as adopted by the Third General Assembly of World Medical Association at Geneva, Schitzerland, in September 1948(amended in 2006).2
Today based on this, MCI gets the following format signed by all the doctors at the time of registration:
