Deborah Bowman is a Professor of Bio Ethics, Clinical Ethics and Medical Law at St. Georges, University of London.
I don’t know her but I have read what she writes and because of that I think she is brilliant. Not only does she have what seems to me to be one of the most important jobs in medicine, she also has cancer.
I have now read two of her articles which reference the treatment that she is undergoing, but from the perspective of a Professor of Bio Ethics.
She has been able to reference back her principles and her ethical stand point against the treatment that she has received as she goes through one of the most difficult parts of anyone’s life.
She writes for Insight which is the quarterly publication for the MDDUS, her articles are brilliant.
In the most recent issue she writes about ethical consultations in a system which is under pressure and references some of the touch points that she has had with remarkable members of the staff in the NHS, both clinical and non-clinical; from parking attendants to consultants in Oncology. She references this back to the principle of ethics as ‘what you do when no one else is looking’.
That’s it there, isn’t it? That is your test for ethics.
Some of the worst things I have seen in dentistry, in healthcare, that I still campaign about in my own little soap box (even if it gets me into trouble) are things that people did to try to conceal what they did.
What you do when no one is looking, when you think you will not get caught, when you think that no one will ever see what you have done, that is what defines you not only as a healthcare professional but as a human.
Seek out the work of Deborah Bowman, read what she writes.
It’s one perspective to be a Professor of Bio Ethics but it’s another to be a Professor of Bio Ethics at the sharp end of cancer treatment within the NHS.
We’d all learn a lot from this and adapt it to both our practice and our lives on a day to day basis.
Blog post number: 1655
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