Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethics. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Israel Hayom | Israel Medical Association opposes force-feeding law

In another story related to coercion of medical procedures, there is this story from Israel Hayom (see prior related posts here, here and here). The proposed law would require doctors to force-feed hunger strikers. If a certain doctor refuses, he would be obligated to transfer the care of the patient to another doctor. There are potentially two people being coerced here, the hunger strikers and the doctors.

According to the article, the Chairman of the Israeli Medical Association claims that this clause would cause doctors to violate the Israeli code of medical ethics. But I am not certain how. Perhaps the relevant clauses are on page 24:
k) The right to continue proper medical treatment 
1. The physician shall respect the patient's right to continue medical treatment with another physician or as part of some other medical arrangement. 
2. The physician shall respect the patient's right to receive continuous treatment, with full cooperation from the physicians treating him. 
If the patient has the right to switch doctors, presumably he has the right to keep his current doctor (who refuses to force-feed him).

I never quite understood the issue with hunger strikes. How exactly do the strikers force their captors or others to release them by not eating? According to Wikipedia, it works mainly by guilt or public perception. The jailing entity does not want to suffer the public outcry that would result from the death of the prisoners while incarcerated. I guess it just depends on the will of the jailor and the striker. 


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Breaking News: Law Librarian Reveals that Lawyers Steal

The Bar Association library in Jerusalem has a sign near the front door that is typically ignored by patrons and librarians, save for one of the latter. The sign says that you must store your bag or briefcase by the front door. So today, I was reading in the library with my bag at my side for a couple of hours without incident until the Enforcer arrived. She went around telling everyone to place their bags in the cubbies by the front door.
"Can I ask what the reason for this rule is?" I innocently inquired.
"I don't need to give you a reason, that's what the sign says," she spat back, almost making me regret my boldness.
"No, you don't need to give me a reason," I replied, "I'm just wondering."
"You want to know why? Because people steal!"
"Even lawyers??" I asked with mock incredulity.
"Yes, even lawyers," she sneered, shaking her head at my "naivete".

A few minutes later she approached me to elaborate. "You're not a lawyer here yet, so let me explain something to you. Stealing is the least of the problems we have with lawyers in this country."
As if I've never taken Legal Ethics... or read the newspaper.

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