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Biomedical subjects

L Doyal

Publications and source records attributed to L Doyal.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Gender equity in health: debates and dilemmas.

Gender equity is increasingly cited as a goal of health policy but there is considerable confusion about what this could mean either in theory or in practice. If policies for the promotion of gender equity are to be realisable their goal must be the equitable distribution of health related resources. This requires careful identification of the similarities and differences in the health needs of men and women. It also necessitates an analysis of the gendered obstacles that currently prevent men and women from realising their potential for health. This article explores the impact of gender divisions on the health and the health care of both women and men and draws out some of the policy implications of this analysis. It outlines a three point agenda for change. This includes policies to ensure universal access to reproductive health care, to reduce gender inequalities in access to resources and to relax the constraints of rigidly defined gender roles. The article concludes with a brief overview of the practical and political dilemmas that the implementation of such policies would impose.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Teaching and assessing ethics and law in the dental curriculum.

The General Dental Council's recommendations on dental education places a new emphasis on the importance of ethics and law in the dental curriculum, stating that students should have an awareness of moral and ethical responsibilities involved in the provision of care to individual patients and to populations. The duties of care to protect a patient's life and health at all times, to respect their autonomy to make informed choices about what happens to them, and to do this fairly and without prejudice, are widely accepted as the fundamental ethical principles governing all health care. The specifics of these duties of care are detailed in Maintaining Standards: guidance to dentists on professional and personal conduct, published by the GDC.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The British National Health Service: a tarnished moral vision?

Last year (1998) saw the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the British National Health Service (NHS). One of the few completely nationalized systems of health care in the world, the NHS is seen by many as a moral beacon of what it means to provide equitable medical treatment to all citizens on the basis of need and need alone. However, others argue that it has failed to achieve the overall goals for which it was created. Because of scarce resources, some urgently needed care is not available at all, while that which is received is sometimes second class. For these reasons, it is claimed that the NHS should be scrapped and replaced by other systems of health care delivery. This paper outlines the history of the NHS, indicating some of the problems and innovations which have led to its current organization and structure. The philosophical foundations of the NHS are then articulated and defended on the grounds that it still represents a morally coherent and economically efficient approach to the delivery of health care. Scarce resources are the key problem facing the NHS, making rationing inevitable and it is shown that this is not incompatible with the moral foundations of the service. However, there can be little doubt that the NHS is now becoming dangerously under-funded. The paper concludes with arguments about why this is so and what might be done about it.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed1997

Good ethical practice in the dental treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS.

Patients with HIV/AIDS have challenged the ethics of the dental profession. The seriousness, infectious character and social stigma of the illness have led to a range of ethical dilemmas about the treatment of such patients. This paper attempts to resolve some of the more difficult questions through exploring the moral boundaries of the rights and duties of both patients and dental practitioners. To accomplish this aim, the moral foundation for the general clinical duties of care is outlined, especially the obligations of providing treatment to a high standard, respecting the rights of patients to informed consent and doing both without personal prejudice. After illustrating why these duties require moral character as well as intellectual understanding, their practical consequences are outlined for specific issues in the treatment of seropositive patients. It is argued that patients should never be tested without their informed consent and that dentists have a duty to display courage, sensitivity and rigorous respect for confidentiality in the treatments they offer. The obligations of seropositive dentists are also considered, including their own obligations for disclosure toward regulatory authorities and patients. The moral debt which the dental profession owes to seropositive patients is highlighted.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1996

Nurses taking on junior doctors' work: a confusion of accountability.

The number of hospital based posts in which nurses take over clinical work previously done by junior doctors is growing. Accountability for the scope of such new roles and the standards of practice which apply to them are still unclear. When analysed together and compared, the regulations arising from the professional bodies (GMC and UKCC), civil law concerning certain wrongs to patients, and employment law are sometimes contradictory and hard to interpret. The resulting uncertainties about appropriate management for clinical roles evolving between the professions, coupled with an increasingly litigious public, put the nurses and consultants involved at risk of complaints and of disciplinary and legal action. Drawing on our current research into changing clinical roles at the medical-nursing interface, we suggest strategies to reduce risk. Doctors and nurses should be equal partners in planning and managing these new posts, patients should be informed adequately about the nature of the postholder's role and training, significant changes in the work of such postholders should be formally acknowledged by the employer and relevant insurers, individuals taking up new roles should have access to legal advice and support to cover legal risk, and national regulatory bodies need to work together to harmonise their codes of practice in relation to changing clinical roles between the professions.

Humans↗