New Medical Humanities Findings from Norwegian Institute of Public Health Described (Ethics in cross-cultural encounters: a medical concern?)

2019 FEB 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Daily -- Research findings on Health and Medicine - Medical Humanities are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Oslo, Norway, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Modern medicine’s investment in the disembodied, objective ‘science’ of biomedicine, where patients are transformed from suffering subjects to objects of investigation, calls for heightened ethical awareness. Around the world, ethical codes of conduct emphasise beneficence and non-maleficence.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, “Lately, we have also seen a quest for autonomy and equitable healthcare for diverse populations. However, these tenets alone do not effectively address the problems which regularly occur in transcultural consultations. By developing a ‘space for reflection’ based on selected writings of the moral philosophers Axel Honneth, Emmanuel Levinas and Hans Jonas, my aim is to cast light on this issue. Given the differing aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, clearly there are no clear-cut rules to obey. However, a thematic analysis of a quote from a Somali, female refugee, supported by some other studies on medical practice, suggests that, metaphorically speaking, within the developed space for reflection, medical practice has worked itself into a corner. By neglecting the patient as a social being, lacking openness to alterity, and not conveying needed information, they make it very difficult for patients to take responsibility for their situation. In spite of doctors’ benevolence, the result is alienation, increased suffering and thus, potential harm. Similar tendencies are reflected in a number of recent studies on medical consultations.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Therefore, rather than blaming the single doctor for moral deceit, we should see these tendencies as a ‘forgetfulness of recognition’ that affects the medical profession, a disturbance which source probably is hidden in doctors training.”

For more information on this research see: Ethics in cross-cultural encounters: a medical concern? Medical Humanities, 2019;():medhum-2018-011546. (BMJ Publishing Group - http://group.bmj.com/; Medical Humanities - http://mh.bmj.com/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.K. Aambo, Unit for Migration and Health, NIPH, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1136/medhum-2018-011546. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)