An Examination of Conscience

Mark J Kissler

American Medical Association Journal of Ethics
American Medical Association Journal of Ethics

Extract
The need for protection of conscience within medicine is evidence of precisely this kind of moral fragmentation. Bound by a common profession and motivation to heal, we still can be moral strangers. Physicians seek protection when encountering divisive issues, such as abortion or physician-assisted suicide. The problem is not so much that these disagreements are intractable, but that they embody different (often implicit) conceptions of the ends of medicine. There is a rift at the foundation; and so it is necessary to ask again what medicine is for, what the role of healer is.


Kissler MJ. An Examination of Conscience. Am Med Ass J Ethics (Virtual Mentor). 2013 Mar;15(3):185-187.

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