The medical profession and human rights - Veronica English

Medical ethics and human rights are issues which now command much more attention both within the medical profession and in society generally than they used to. One reason is that the contexts in which doctors and other health personnel interact with the state have become more numerous. Another is that we are more conscious of patient rights in a whole variety of institutional settings. This is why the British Medical Association decided to take a thorough new look at the complex interface between medical practitioners and possible abuses of human rights.This major new BMA Report, the successor to Medicine Betrayed which looked more narrowly at torture and related practices, takes its examples from all over the world -- both the industrialised and the developing countries. It ranges widely across a great variety of issues, including ones which doctors in everyday practice are sooner or later likely to confront. It includes abuse of institutionalised patients, research involving humans, trade in organs, doctors and asylum seekers, prison doctors, forensic doctors, the rehabilitation of torture victims, and medical involvement in armed conflicts and weapons research.Throughout this Report, in whose drafting a large number of experienced doctors and other professionals have played a part, is a constant concern with the practical ethical issues such situations and contexts pose for medical personnel and guidance as to how they might deal with them. The concluding Part examines practical steps to help ensure that doctors and other health personnel are aware of these issues and are supported in their efforts to adhere to the ever higher standards of human rights observance which the modern world expects.