Medical Ethics as an Aspect of Medical Education: A UK Perspective

The development of medical ethics in the UK has been closely tied to its development as an aspect of medical education. Whilst the development of bioethics in America was marked by the activities of medical outsiders and a concern with broader bioethical questions in the UK it has been marked by ‘insiders’ or, more accurately, by ‘insider–outsiders’ and by a predominant concern for the professional issues of medical ethics. Some of this can be seen in the work of Maurice Pappworth, an early medical ethical whistleblower often considered the UK’s Henry Beecher. As well as raising concerns about unethical practices in biomedical research Pappworth also raised concerns about certain pedagogic practices, notably the internal examination of sedated women without obtaining their consent. However the link between medical ethics and medical education is most clear in the advent of the London Medical Group (LMG), the export of this model to other medical schools in Great Britain and its role in the creation of the Institution of Medical Ethics (IME).