From South City Hospital-Karachi: Are medical ethics universal or culture specific?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23919215

World J Gastrointest Pharmacol Ther. 2013 Aug 6;4(3):47-8. doi: 10.4292/wjgpt.v4.i3.47.

Are medical ethics universal or culture specific.

Ahmed F.

Source

Furqaan Ahmed, Department of Gastroenterology, South City Hospital, Karachi 75350, Pakistan.

Abstract

In our society and culture where family is of utmost importance, sometimes I wonder how much of a doctor's duty is to the patient and how much is to the whole family. As a medical student, I remember being told by my professors that we should treat the patient as a whole and not focus on just one problem or organ system. Similarly when practicing medicine in Pakistan, one cannot treat the patient alone and ignore the family. How much should relatives' wishes be taken into account when dealing with a patient? Don't patients have a right to their medical information? When, how, and by whom can that right be waived? What role does culture play when debating medical ethics?