[The Council for Medical Ethics 1985-2001]

BACKGROUND

The Council for Medical Ethics of the Norwegian Medical Association was founded in 1961. The council, made up of five physicians, is elected by the Representative Body of the Association for four years.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This article presents the work of the council from 1985 to 2001. We examined all written reports; all cases were coded in the same manner as in a previous evaluation.

RESULTS

The types of complaints and the council's response to them were not different from the pre-1985 period. 300 complaints of violations of physicians' code of ethics were reviewed, 60% of them brought before the council by physicians or by branches of the medical association. Issues related to medical certificates, confidentiality and advertisements were the most frequent. Eight physicians were expelled from the Association, all of them general practitioners, psychiatrists or gynaecologists. Financial or sexual exploitation were the most prevalent causes of expulsion.

[The historical evolution of regulation XVIII in the Italian medical curriculum]

In 1932 Bindo de Vecchi published a paper in Florence in which he underlined the need for a change in the teaching of medicine in Italy, in view of the continuous progress taking place in the health field. He recommended a constant social and preventive monitoring in medicine, and suggested a better distribution in the time and number of lessons, tests during degree courses and greater attention towards the practical aspects of medical studies. In 1933 the State examination was established, and in 1938 Regulation XVIII of the Italian Medical curriculum was approved. The first relevant revision of Regulation XVIII took place in 1986; it introduced a brief description of the formative objectives in the different areas of medical teaching, doubling the number of examinations and abolishing complementary courses. In 1996 a new version of Regulation XVIII appeared, including for the first time the so-called University Formative Credits. In 2000 a Ministerial Decree concerning Specialistic Degree Courses introduced the new Class constituted by the Specialistic Curriculum in Medicine and Surgery.

The Cape doctor and the broader medical market, 1800-1850

Regularly trained and licensed Cape doctors in the nineteenth century operated within a medical market which accommodated other suppliers of medical care, both competing and complementary. These 'alternative practitioners' included shopkeepers selling patent medicines, apothecaries, chemists and midwives, Muslim folk healers and indigenous Khoisan or African healers. Licensed doctors also provided medical services for a wide variety of clients - white settlers, their slaves, servants, free blacks and indigenes, usually in decreasing order of frequency. Most of these patients probably consulted alternative practitioners as well, often in preference to the Western-trained doctor. Cape doctors distanced themselves very firmly from alternative healers and folk medical traditions in order to establish their niche within the medical market and to secure state support by creating a strong profession.

Providers issue brief: scope of practice and prescriptive authority: year end report-2003

Nonphysician providers continue to achieve enhanced stature, in part by gaining more autonomy in prescribing drugs. There is growing support for the concept that the public health is best served by the broadest access to primary care along with the safe use of pharmaceuticals. The states continue in their efforts to find ways to promote the use of less specialized and less costly providers to help serve the ever-growing population who have access to health care services.

Scared silent: the clash between malpractice lawsuits & expert testimony

As the Bush administration pushes Congress to place a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, other moves quietly afoot by state medical boards, state medical associations, and specialty societies may reduce liability insurance premiums by limiting the number of suits.

Telemedicine: laws still need a dose of efficiency

Ever have a cold that just won't go away? You try lozenges, vitamin C, and a humidifier. Nothing seems to work. Telemedicine still has the same cold today in the form of laws and regulations that make the practice of telemedicine onerous. The best a health practitioner can do today is weather the cold that plagues telemedicine and make the best of it until legislators and regulators work on solutions to remove the barriers to effective telemedicine practice. This article provides a view of the landscape of telemedicine law today, outlines the barriers to the effective practice of telemedicine, and offers strategic concerns for health care providers to consider before entering into telemedicine arrangements.