Tag Archives: Ethics

An Emotional Rollercoaster – Ayesha Unadkat (2023)

The patient’s story lies at the heart of a doctor’s role and that story influences each patient’s experience of illness- some call this journey ‘an emotional rollercoaster’.

I had reflected on what I had learn from each of the patients and combined this with my learning from my seminars where I learnt a lot about the concept of co-CREATING a story with my patient and this led me to come up with the mnemonic CREATE to guide my through working with patients in my future practice.

How can Medical Anthropology help us to perceive reproductive practices, specifically Female Genital Mutilation, in a way that tolerates alternative schools of thought? – Bethany Wildridge (2016)

This essay is an exploration of how Medical Anthropology can enable healthcare professionals, academics and lay people to understand reproductive practices from the perspective of their cultural origin. Worryingly, developments in Western healthcare have resulted in a neo-colonial attitude being adopted in response to alternative or seemingly horrifying reproductive practices, such as FGM, in developing countries.

The Placebo Effect: Physiology or Psychology? – Nicola Claire Hood (2009)

To address if in the excitement of entering the golden age of science and technology we have lost our historical greater understanding of psychology, contextual and social manipulations.  Although this model has understandably taken a backseat the placebo has a brilliant success rate and this essay aims to evaluate the ethical hurdles – informed consent, the hazards of deception, the extent of a physician’s duty, paternalism and therapeutic privilege- to see if old and new medical approaches can converge to maximise patient welfare.