'Watching' medicine: do bioethicists respect patients' privacy?
Agich has identified 'watching' --the formal or informal observation of the medical setting-- as one of the four main roles of the clinical bioethicist. By an analysis of a case study involving a bioethics student who engaged in watching at an HIV/AIDS clinic as part of his training, I raise questions about the ethical justification of watching. I argue that the invasion of privacy that watching entails makes the activity unacceptable unless the watcher has received prior consent from the patients who are being observed. I conclude that, even though it is important for bioethics students to understand the complexities of actual medical practice, watching should play a prominent role in bioethics education only if the privacy problems in it can be resolved.
Ainslie
D C
DC
Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, ON, Canada. dainslie@chass.utoronto.ca
D001675:Bioethics; D003219:Confidentiality; D026822:Ethicists; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D019370:Observation; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D018907:Privacy; D012106:Research; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000523:psychology