Oo. Thomsen et P. Riis, GASTROENTEROLOGY IN THE LAST DECENNIA AND INITIATIVES IN MEDICAL-ETHICS - COINCIDENCE OR LINKAGE, Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology, 31, 1996, pp. 208-217
A quarter of a century ago ethics was an esoteric term, known to theol
ogians and philosophers, but unknown as a discipline to the majority o
f doctors. Since then, however, ethics has become a substantial part o
f clinical medicine and health research. Ethics as an area of interest
for Danish gastroenterologists appeared from several foci in the earl
y days. One angle was an almost revival-like interest in research meth
odology and its ethical dimensions. Other angles were derived from Dan
ish gastroenterologists' experiences transferred from other discipline
s before the birth of Danish gastroenterology. From the time of these
early incentives Danish gastroenterologists have constituted a platfor
m for the implementation of the basic principles, lying behind medical
ethics, now in collaboration with other parts of the medical professi
on. The topics are reflected in a number of publications and in the va
rious practical diversions. An interest in information of patients app
eared at an early stage. Publication ethics as a subdiscipline Danish
gastroenterologists and has led to contributions within the framework
of the involved International Group of Medical Journal Editors. Resear
ch ethnics, a central topic throughout all years, has led to such impo
rtant initiatives as the Second Helsinki Declaration and the establish
ment of a national control system for medical research in man. A furth
er ramification of ethics is scientific dishonesty and good clinical p
ractice. Here a recent initiative has led to the establishment of a na
tional Committee on Scientific Dishonesty. Under the auspices of the O
MGE (Organisation Mondiale de Gastroenterologie) Danish gastroenterolo
gists have investigated transnational and transcultural differences in
gastroenterologists' attitudes to information of patients and relativ
es and have unmasked considerable and important differences throughout
the world. Medical ethics has, together with scientific methodology,
to some extent reunited the sub-specialized fragments of the mother di
sciplines medicine and surgery and in this way has acted as partes pro
toro.