In the corridors of our hospital, a remarkable story unfolded just a day ago. A woman well into her nineties, her spirit worn by time but her resolve firm. Hailing from a village 200 kilometers east of Sevagram, she lived out her days in the company of memories and her devoted son after the loss …
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Ethics
Ethical Challenges in Cancer Management
This morning I was asked by Dr NR Datta, head of the Radiation Oncology department of our hospital to talk on Ethical Challenges in Cancer management. I addressed the following issues in my Powerpoint Presentation. The audience- faculty, resident, technicians, nurses, and social workers- also shared the challenges that they see in their daily practice. …
Covid: Evidence, Ethics and Economics
This afternoon I spoke on several issues that influence our thought processes when we see patients with Covid19- in the community, in the hospital OPD, wards or ICUs. How should we design our therapy? Should we allow ourselves to prescribe untested and unproven therapies because the atmosphere is filled with fear, desperation and panic? What …
Clinical Trials in Covid: Ethics and Practice
Fear. Panic. Desperation. Came Covid and most doctors began to prescribe anti-Covid drugs based not on scientific research, but based on anecdotes, media stories, newspapers, TV channels and promotion of drugs by the drug industry. The virus pushed the Evidence-based medicine to the back seat. Physicians were either reluctant to— or didn’t know how to— …
COVID-19: The need for evidence-based medicine
A number of old drugs approved for other diseases are being “repurposed” and tested for their safety and efficacy in COVID-19, in systematic clinical trials. They have emergency approval for use in COVID-19, but most are not yet proven for this use. Some drugs have received approval without adequate testing. Other drugs are being used …
Medical Conferences sans Drug Industry Sponsorship
Medical conferences are fast degenerating into melas that educate, entertain, amuse and irritate and deceive—not necessarily in that order. One can smell, see and feel the drug industry everywhere, advertising on the walls, shaping the contents and style of educational programmes, tempting with gifts and free meals, travel and other amenities. In 2003, MGIMS became …
Ethical Challenges of Research in a Pandemic
The pressure for an effective treatment or vaccine for COVID-19 is high. There are more than 2,000 studies on COVID-19 across the world; many of these are trials on humans to develop vaccines, and to test the efficacy of drugs for this new disease. The urgency of this pandemic presents new, acute ethical challenges in …
When is enough enough?
How do medical students learn to make impossible decisions every day? They can share their problems with their colleagues and seniors, and learn decision-making skills which will carry over into their practice once they graduate. At the MGIMS, a group of residents and interns has started informal discussions of case study scenarios. The idea is …
Medical ethics beats drug company lures
The Academy of Medical Sciences, Nagpur organised a workshop on medical ethics on September 8 and 9, at the Udyog bhavan, Nagpur. Fed up with several ‘me too workshops’, the Academy wanted to do something different this year. Several doctors felt that medical ethics was a topic worth discussing in today’s times. However, some members …
The eleven billion dollars question
Medical conferences are fast degenerating into melas which educate, entertain, amuse and irritate and deceive – not necessarily in that order. One can smell, see and feel the drug industry everywhere, advertising on the walls, shaping the contents and style of educational programmes, tempting with gifts and free meals, travel and other amenities. We conducted …