Journal of the Forum for Medical Ethics Society Since 1993

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Current Issue
Vol VII No. 1
Jan - Mar 2010


Recent Issues



Indian Journal of Medical Ethics Vol IV No I January-March 2007 (incorporating Issues in Medical Ethics, cumulative Vol XV No 1)

EDITORIALS
AIDS vaccine trials in India: ethical benchmarks and unanswered questions  Amar Jesani, Lester Coutinho
   
CONTROVERSY
Misconceptions about narco analysis Bannur Muthai Mohan
Narco analysis leads to more questions than answers  Jagadeesh N
Response: questions of science, law and ethics  Amar Jesani
 
ARTICLES
Obstetric practices related to HIV in Kerala Lincoln Priyadarshi Choudhury,V Raman Kutty
Patients'perspectives on medical information: results of an informal survey  Kavitha Raja
 
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Chikungunya fever, falciparum malaria, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis ... are we listening to the warning signs for public health in India? Anurag Bhargava, Biswaroop  Chatterjee
   
INTERNATIONAL ETHICS
Changing ethics in medical practice: a Thai perspective Arthur Saniotis
Informed consent in an antiretroviral trial in Nigeria
Ogenna Manafa, Graham Lindegger, Carel Ijsselmuiden
   
CASESTUDY
Ethical dilemma and resolution: a case scenario Joseph K Wells
Response: such neat resolutions are not possible in India George Thomas
   
FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE
Moral and ethical imperatives of health care technologies: scientific, legal and socio-economic perspectives CONFERENCE COORDINATORS, THE SECOND NATIONAL BIOETHICS CONFERENCE: INDIANJOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
   
SELECTED SUMMARY
The cost of promoting "personal responsibility" Bashir Mamdani
 
BOOK REVIEWS
Selling bodies, making profits: Body brokers: inside America's underground trade in human remains by Annie Cheney 
Meenal Mamdani
Learning a complex code: Ethical issues in palliative care, Patricia Webb editor K Ramesh Chandra Naidu
   
FILM REVIEW
To behead, or not to behead: Perumazhakaalam (Malayalam), directed by Kamal Thomas Xavier
   
FROM THE PRESS
   
   
BOOKS IN BRIEF
   
   
FROM OTHER JOURNALS
   
   
FINANCIAL REPORT
 
   
CORRESPONDENCE
 

 

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: SECOND NATIONAL BIOETHICS CONFERENCE
Cover : Mosquito-borne diseases are a major public health problem


A matter of consent


The concept of voluntary informed consent is central to discussions of medicalethics today. Treatment or research must take place only after consent; people must get complete information, and they must be in a position to volunteer, and should not be coerced. Yet many questions are raised about the quality ofconsent in medical practice and research. The editorial discusses the HlVvaccinetrials in India. A survey of obstetricians in Kerala finds that pregnant womenare routinely tested for HIV without their consent.A study of informed consentin a trial in Nigeria for HIV drugs finds that many participants believed thatthey would be refused care if they withdrew from the research. And a surveyof patients' understanding of medical information finds that patients feel theyoften receive too little medical information to make informed decisions.

It was only natural that the October 2007 editorial on medical professionalsand narco analysis should generate a response. We encourage these responsesand carry them, as well as the editorial writer's reply. We hope such exchangesstimulate further debate on the subject.

If the private sector cashed in on the Chikungunya panic, the public healthsystem didn't do much either; it neithertold people howto protect themselves nor took steps to stop the breeding of mosquitoes. A doctor working in a tribal area where mosquito-borne diseases are endemic puts these responses in the context of the dismal state of public health in India, and calls on health professionals to accept their responsibilities.

Medical tourism has transformed the character of medical practice in Thailand, argues an anthropologist.

A case study presentation from the US discusses the conflicts, for a medical professional, when the patient needs a type of treatment but insurance will not pay.
How is the doctor to resolve this situation? This is accompanied by a commentary on the Indian context.

Also related to the patient-insurance tension, the selected summary discussesa debate in the US on the move to blame the patient for his or her health problems.

In this issue, we carry the concept note of the Indian Journal ofMedical Ethics' Second National Bioethics Conference to be held on December 6-8,2007.


Thank you, reviewers

All submissions to the journal undergo an extensive review by internal reviewers from within the journal’s editorial boards as well as external peer reviewers. We would like to thank all our editorial board reviewers, and also name the following external experts who have reviewed articles for the journal during 2006:

Sanjib Das Adhikary, Gita Arjun, Anurag Bhargava, Vijaylaxmi Kamat, Rachana Kamtekar, Kausar S Khan, Yash Lokhandwalla, K Mathiharan, Sanjay Mehendale, MR Hariharan Nair, Samiran Nundy, Prathima Radhakrishnan, Karuna Ramesh, Alok Sarin, Peush Sahni, Vidya Shivram and Avinash Supe.




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