Rutger Jan Van der Gaag, Netherlands

Presenter of 2 Presentations

Educational 16:30 - 18:45

Medical Ethics in Psychiatry

Educational 11:00 - 11:15

Prevention of Malpractice: Lessons from a Serious Failure in the Netherlands - W017

Moderator of 1 Session

Date
04.07.2020, Saturday
Room
Berlin
Session Description
Ethics (from the Greek ‘εθiks: the best way to behave”) is, according to the Oxford dictionary “the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principals”. Moral principles govern a person’s behaviour. Aristotle held “virtues” as the guiding principal, Kant “duty”, whereas utilitarianism stipulates that the “guiding principal” should be “the greatest happiness or benefit of the greatest number”. In medicine ethics are based on the Hippocratic oath, nowadays expressed in the “Declaration of Geneva” (1948, revised 2006 in current revision to be finalized in October 2017). Two moral principles in this medical oath are crucial: - respect for the autonomy of the patient and their safety (in a broad sense: both physical and intellectual (privacy). In clinical practice, medical doctors struggle, on daily basis, with dilemmas around these themes. These themes will be explored and discussed in groups, using case vignettes in which doctors are confronted with ethical dilemmas. The course directors will propose a number of cases, but the participants will be encouraged in an interactive fashion to discuss their own experiences.