By
Dr. Ogungbayi, Olajuwon Ezekiel
‘Professional Ethics Amongst Doctors- Before We Quit The Stage’
A glowing inferno that has been bellowing since we joined the medical profession about 4 decades ago is growing increasingly out of control.
Intra-professional disrespect and slight is as old as the orthodox medical practice hence the need to embed in the oaths the clause that “I will give to my teachers, colleagues and students the RESPECT and gratitude that is their due”; emphasis here on RESPECT, though gratitude is an associated virtue and you can hardly discuss one in isolation from the other.
Respect: as far back as 40 years ago, disrespect for medical colleagues has been ringing a bell perhaps because we were brought up with disrespect as students and learners. At that onset, it was as if the norm was disrespect for our students. Those were the days you could be publicly addressed as an idiot, wannabe, moron, nincompoop, etc by your teachers, and you dared not wear a frown but nod in agreement.
Having been nourished that way, little wonder that the doctors of those days, till today, grew up extremely irritable and contemptuous of colleagues at all levels.
That translated into what we experienced as young doctors in those days where your referral got no feedback from the centers and consultants that eventually took up cases. That “snub the fool” attitude lingers on and has even graduated into fault-finding to date. Your referrals are turned into grand round stuff even without your knowledge just for the purpose of ridiculing you or the category of medical practice you belong to. These are subtle, disrespectful conducts which have transitioned into a brazen verbal and nearly physical showdown between doctors.
Disrespect comes in different forms among us.
A doctor discussing a fellow doctor within colleagues or in the presence of patients with a view to bringing that doctor into disrepute is a serious act of professional indiscipline and indiscretion.
That you are a consultant and he is a GP with many years ahead of your basic qualifications does not take his respect away.
In fact, the best doctors are the most humble and courteous.
That a junior doctor can tell a senior doctor on social media regarding a job advert that “when you are ready and serious, you will state in black and white how much you want to pay as salary” is the eruption of lava on the quaking volcano nowadays!
And accompanying these eruptions you get all sorts of associated unbelievable insults!
But how did we get here, for heaven’s sake? And where are we headed right now?
One wonders what the agencies and bodies charged with the responsibility of mediating sundry issues are doing about the issue of disrespect among us?
Will the teachers of our doctors show good examples and emphasize to them the essence of ethics?
If the MDCN has not made itself a dreaded parent, then the children would have brought some family issues to him, but if you know that, if Papa hears this, someone will go home with a bloodied nose, a lot of issues will be concealed.
We need an approachable MDCN that will discipline without breaking bones.
The NMA at all levels must stop emphasizing levies over ethics and should serve as a linkage between doctors and the MDCN in such matters to prevent unnecessary escalation.
We are gradually leaving the stage, but we desire to leave behind an enduring professional stage worthy of the noble profession.
DR. OGUNGBAYI, OLAJUWON EZEKIEL WRITES FROM LAGOS
