Good medicine, human rights and the rights of doctors

Over the last two decades, the impact of bioethics on medical training and practice has been immense. All medical students in the UK are now required to study the theory and application of the ethical and legal duties of clinical care. Similarly, practising clinicians are expected to demonstrate an acceptable level of understanding of these duties to qualify for professional memberships and fellowships and to succeed in reviews of fitness to practise. Articles on medical law and ethics regularly fill the pages of the most prestigious medical journals. Throughout the world, the departments of health and medical associations publish a wide range of ethicolegal guidelines, and medical litigation seems forever on the rise.

For these reasons, a good understanding of key issues and developments in ethics and law applied to medicine is vital to individual practitioners in managing their professional lives and delivering an appropriate standard of care. To help achieve these goals, the journal will begin this month a new section to address the ethical and legal dilemmas that are now an integral part of clinical practice. The goal of the section is not to replicate the more abstract material already found in many bioethics journals. Rather it will focus on matters of topical interest and do so in ways that reflect the personal views of experienced healthcare professionals. An accompanying editorial will introduce each commissioned article and place it in context. We want this section to make a significant practical difference to what doctors think and do about their patients and their own professional and personal lives. Eventually, we hope that this part of the journal will evolve into an international …