Medical Ethics, Duties & Medical Negligence Awareness among the Practitioners in a Teaching Medical College, Hospital-A Survey

There is Growing public awareness regarding the ethical conduct of medical practitioners, and complaints against physicians appear to be escalating. The changing doctor-patient relationship and commercialization of modern medical practice has affected the practice of medicine.

This study aimed to assess the knowledge of, and attitudes to, medical ethics among doctors in the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Bhubaneswar, Orissa. A self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed to all doctors; a total 120 numbers of practitioners of various clinical departments participated. 90% of the total participants were well aware about medico legal cases. All the participants advocated for an ethical practice but 12% of them practice as per the demand of the situation.68% of the participants expressed that dichotomy should not be a part of medical practice. Only 52% of the respondents are aware of the MCI code of medical ethics 2002 and 57% knows the role of ethical committee in their institute. Majority, 88% of them expressed that 15 days duty in the department of Forensic Medicine should be mandatory during internship to handle the medico legal cases properly.