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Cultural context in medical ethics: lessons from Japan
- Source :
- Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, Vol 1, Iss 1, p 4 (2006), Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine
- Publication Year :
- 2006
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2006.
-
Abstract
- This paper examines two topics in Japanese medical ethics: non-disclosure of medical information by Japanese physicians, and the history of human rights abuses by Japanese physicians during World War II. These contrasting issues show how culture shapes our view of ethically appropriate behavior in medicine. An understanding of cultural context reveals that certain practices, such as withholding diagnostic information from patients, may represent ethical behavior in that context. In contrast, nonconsensual human experimentation designed to harm the patient is inherently unethical irrespective of cultural context. Attempts to define moral consensus in bioethics, and to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable variation across different cultural contexts, remain central challenges in articulating international, culturally sensitive norms in medical ethics.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
World War II
media_common.quotation_subject
Culture
education
Alternative medicine
Context (language use)
Truth Disclosure
Japan
History and Philosophy of Science
Physicians
Biological Warfare
medicine
Humans
Sociology
Ethical Relativism
media_common
lcsh:R723-726
Human rights
Research
Health Policy
Environmental ethics
General Medicine
Bioethics
History, 20th Century
Human Rights Abuses
Issues, ethics and legal aspects
Human Experimentation
Harm
Philosophy of medicine
Law
Personal Autonomy
War Crimes
lcsh:Medical philosophy. Medical ethics
Medical ethics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 17475341
- Volume :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....84ba856a6e7ade8afc6797ee28d1f650