title: Bioethics and corruption: a personal struggle.
abstract: The author attempts to give a general picture of corruption, especially in the area of healthcare. Corruption ranges from fraud, through deceit, bribery and dehumanisation, to immeasurable moral decay. As a bioethicist who has challenged corruption in various ways, the author approaches this worldwide plague mainly on the basis of his personal experience. He does not offer a recipe for successfully combating corruption, but tries to provide some ways and means to fight immorality without self-defeat. Bioethics is not a discipline whose task is to investigate, expose, or punish corrupt people. A number of agencies exist for this "noble" job. Nevertheless, an ethics teacher should not be completely indifferent to obvious and harmful immoral behaviour, regardless of his/her personal compulsions. It is not the "patient rights" that threaten the prestige of the medical profession; it is rather the bad apples that infiltrate the moral mission of this esteemed work. It seems that the hardest challenges in the struggle against corruption are bad laws-laws that provide loopholes and immunity to immoral dealings. In a stable, strong democracy, morally unfounded laws can, and will be changed. Where real democracy exists, they would not even have come into effect.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Advisor, Institute of Family Medicine, University of Pecs, H-7632, Pecs, HUNGARY e-mail: chela@t-online.hu.
authors.forename: Bela
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blasszauer
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics / Q000193:education; D003415:Crime / Q000517:prevention & control*; D026822:Ethicists; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D024382:Professional Role; D011640:Public Policy