5 ms·
I think a good first step is to learn from groups—doctors, librarians, lawyers, engineers—who have such a working system of professional ethics in place.
by idlewords 10y ago
I think a good first step is to learn from groups—doctors, librarians, lawyers, engineers—who have such a working system of professional ethics in place.
- brighteyes 10y agoDefinitely true, and all the ones I am familiar with are purposefully non-partisan. That is, they define as ethical things that both Democrats and Republicans agree on.
- idlewords 10y agoThat's very much not the case. Consider the epic battle between librarians and John Ashcroft in the wake of 9/11, over patron privacy.
- brighteyes 10y agoI am less familiar with the librarian code of ethics, but yes, from what I've heard they are quite unique and different from the others.
- tptacek 10y agoThis thread has another vivid example, with doctors and capital punishment, which is a hugely partisan issue. At some point we're going to hit No True Scotsman, aren't we?
- brighteyes 10y agoCapital punishment is a good example, but also an extreme one, and slightly tangential. It isn't that doctors oppose capital punishment for the reasons the anti-capital punishment movement does (the government shouldn't kill people, mistakes are made, the sanctity of life, etc.); instead it is simply because it violates the doctors direct "do no harm" oath. And it is a rare corner case. Overall, there are plenty of doctors across the political spectrum. I mention this because the ethics proposed in "Never Again" are not like that. They would need to be changed quite significantly to be. That's the issue here.
- diyorgasms 10y agoDoctors are also prohibited from assisting in "enhanced interrogations" performed by the US government. >"Any interrogation process that...requires a health professional to monitor the actual procedure, must have inherent health risks" and is thus "contrary to international law."[0] Torture is unfortunately political in America, with the president-elect and many on the right supporting it. And it's another thing an ethics board is standing against. [0]: https://www.propublica.org/article/medical-personnel-and-interrogations-what-do-we-know-what-dont-we-know-409 https://www.propublica.org/article/medical-personnel-and-int...
- slavik81 10y agoThey define a much more narrow set of ethics. Nobody's losing their engineering license for designing missiles. You lose your license for sneaking in last minute changes in without proper review, accidentally causing missiles to explode in their launch tube.
- morgante 10y agoDoctors lose their medical license for deliberately harming people or engaging in inhumane experimentation.
- slavik81 10y agoHow many doctors lost their licence over capital punishment?
- morgante 10y agoActually, since 2010 anesthesiologists have refused to participate in capital punishment. [0] > In at least one case, the planned execution of Michael Morales, the execution warrant was stayed indefinitely due to the objection of the contacted physicians to participate. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_professionals_in_American_executions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participation_of_medical_profe...