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Perspective
Expired Ethics
by
J. Ajithkumar
 “Change
is the only thing that does not change” were words of immense
prophecy. Everything in this universe is changing and that applies
equally well to the living and non-living beings, concepts and even
ideologies. Illation can be that anything which refuses to change is
bound to go under the carpet of time. Yet we have the so-called
professional ethics that have not changed much with flow of time in
certain vital professions. Technology is changing everyday and industry
is readily following it. Roles, responsibilities and ethics of job
functions in industry and business have undergone rapid changes in the
last few decades. In fact, what and how a Project Manager or Project
Engineer performs in an industrial environment has undergone drastic
changes. If they had insisted on written approvals or decisions a decade
back, the same things can be got done by an e-mail or SMS now. And we
have even introduced sanctions on countries or companies that deal with
undesirable business and technology purely on the basis of ethics.
Yet two of the most important professions have not changed much and
least of all are their ethics. Professional ethics lie at the very
foundations of a profession and if there are no changes therein all
other changes are merely superficial. One of the key factors that make a
profession noble is the ethics associated with it. When we refer to a
profession as noble, we mean the profession is of very high moral
quality, dignified and of high eminence. Two of the professions that
have always qualified for this status are the medical and legal ones.
Quite unfortunately, the basic ethics of these professions have remained
stagnant and it is causing great erosion to their value. The basic
ethics for these two professions are:
•
Treating anyone who needs medical help
• Advocating for anyone who seek legal assistance
The
advent of organised terrorism has changed everything in the civilised
world and there is no way we can go forward with such blind virtues.
Ethics of Doctors
Medicines and techniques used by doctors have undergone tremendous
change in the last one century. The nature and extent of change have
been unimaginable in certain specialised fields like surgery and
psychiatrics. But the basic premises on which a doctor offers his
services has remained unchanged especially in the case of the so-called
modern medicine viz. allopathy. While a village doctor practising native
medicine might refuse to treat a killer or rapist, the modern doctor
will not even think twice if his or her services are ‘ordered’ for a
fee. Of late, his / her only concern may be more about the HIV status of
the patient and the associated risk factor for the doctor. None of the
modern five-star hospitals and doctors will show any semblance of
conscience while helping out the most undeserving. If there is money,
even confirmed terrorists are treated as VIPs in an allopathic hospital.
Ethics of modern medicine is becoming all the more critical because of
the evolving legislations and medical advancement in organ
transplantation. If there is enough money there are many doctors who
would be willing to ‘mistreat’ someone or steal organs or treat
terrorists without any qualms. Terrorists kill innocents for no rhyme or
reason and those doctors who are willing to heal their wounds forget the
heinous act committed by them. The reason given is always about the
professional ethics of a doctor to treat anyone who needs his help. But
does a terrorist deserve any sympathy or help like that? That should be
the question upper most in the minds of professional bodies of doctors
in this modern era. Terrorism and terrorists are the most visible
symbols of 21st century, and every profession must consider it while
debating their ethics.
Ethics of Lawyers
The degeneration of lawyer’s has been the most significant among all the
noble professions. One of the prime reasons for the same is its
unchanging ethics in a fast changing world. In olden days when the
technicalities and logic of dispensing justice in a civilised society
were unknown to the uneducated, it made sense to defend any one before a
court of law irrespective of the merit of the case. But it is no more so
in the modern world. The terrorists are no more uneducated and
primitive. In most cases they know more about technology, techniques and
legalities than the lawmen. Does it make anymore sense to defend
confirmed criminals in a court of law only on the basis of professional
ethics? Do the terrorists, traitors and rapists deserve the services of
a lawyer at the State’s expense? These are some of the questions that
the civilised society in every country should ask their own self. Any
more delay in starting this debate will only make our condition more and
more miserable.
In India, we witnessed several cases were miscarriage of natural justice
did take place as a direct result of the expired ethics driving a noble
profession. Defending the known devils is equally undesirable as
refusing to defend the innocent. The lawyer must first convince himself
of the merit of his case. And the merit must be only that of justice for
the wronged and not escape routes for the wrongdoers. But the current
breed of lawyers is doing exactly the opposite. More young lawyers are
taking up cases of highly paying criminals under the lame excuse of
keeping the ethics of their profession, the real reason being the
enormous amount of fees offered by the filthy rich criminals. The
infamous case of a school teacher getting hacked to death in front of
his very young students and the killers going scot-free thanks to the
brilliancy of unscrupulous lawyers should be very disturbing one for any
civilised society.
Whatever needs reform must get reformed. There should be nothing like an
eternal concept except for the concept of God. The need for reforms in
the professional ethics of doctors and lawyers is long overdue.
Confirmed criminals must not get any assistance of lawyers and cruel
killers wounded by the self defence attempts of their victims must not
get medical assistance on the basis of a wrong interpretation of
professional ethics. Lawyers and doctors must use their discretion in
taking up cases. It is definitely not unbecoming of a civilised world to
shun criminals and letting cruel killers to die with out any sort of
medical or legal help. Any contradictory signals will only encourage the
growth of terrorism and extremism.
January
7, 2007
Image
under license with Gettyimages.com
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