Medical Ethics Under The Knife. By Clare Blumer

It took three years to complete. Professors, physicians and philosophers collaborated with Australian and New Zealand transparency and ethics compadres, labouring on the latest edition of Guidelines for ethical relationships between health professionals and industry.This document serves predominantly as the ethical guidebook for fellows of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), and in its 20-year history has been adopted as the benchmark template by comparable medical professional bodies in Australia and around the world. The 4th edition is stricter in its recommendations than that produced in 2006 and targets a kaleidoscope of new tactics that medical industries, including drug companies, use to influence doctors.However, the guidelines themselves now pose an ethical dilemma for the college. The executive has intervened to prevent a draft of the latest edition from undergoing public scrutiny that is a time-honoured — and according to advocates — essential part of the process.The draft guidelines were posted on the RACP website on September 4, with a request for public comment, but within three days college administration removed all trace of the document. For a group of ethicists and transparency advocates, undermining the public-consultation process was akin to a hog-tying — a hostile takeover.Henry Zwartz/The Global MailAt the same time, it emerged that the ethics committee responsible for the guidelines had been quietly disbanded, as par...
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