Foreword to the first edition

doi:10.1093/med/9780199235520.002.0005

Front Matter

Foreword to the first edition

Get access

https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199235520.002.0005

Pages

vii–viii

Published:

December 2008

Extract

Twenty years ago, Roger Higgs and I wrote a short book entitled, In that case: medical ethics in everyday practice1. In it, we expressed the hope that medical ethics would abandon its obsession with the dramas of hospital medicine, and begin to show the relevance of ethics to every facet of medical practice. To illustrate this, we told the story of a fictional patient, “Angie”, tracing her odyssey through medical and social agencies to an ending, which may not have been ideal, but which was meant to reflect the continuing moral uncertainty of real life, and, in that, the centrality of trust.

It is refreshing to discover a new book, all these years later, which locates itself firmly in such day-to-day experiences of patients and their general practitioners, and which recognizes the special features of the relationship that general practice makes possible: a relationship with the whole patient, not just a cluster of symptoms; which potentially extends over years; and which recognizes the family and social setting of the patient. Of course, such a richness of relationship is an ideal of general practice, which cannot always be fulfilled. Patterns of practice are changing, as governments seek to influence the way that health care is delivered, and as practitioners rightly seek to protect their personal and family lives. Increasingly, practitioners may rely on the data on their computer screen to understand the full history of a patient, since group practice arrangements often mean that the patient is seen by a series of doctors. Home visits are becoming much less common, and the increasing use of after-hours on-call services often means that the person seeing the patient in an emergency is not their usual daytime practitioner. Despite these changes, the concept of a generalist or family practitioner, seeing the patient in non-emergency situations in the community, remains the pivotal point for any effective health service. Without it, the ideal of whole-person care will be lost, and the vital importance of preventive medicine and early intervention will be overlooked. We need everyday medical practice and, with it, everyday ethics.

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always … More

You do not currently have access to this chapter.

Sign in with email/username & password
Get email alerts
Save searches
Purchase content
Activate your purchase/trial code
Add your ORCID iD

Get help with access

Institutional access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institutionâ€™s website and Oxford Academic.

Click Sign in through your institution.
Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institutionâ€™s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see â€˜Sign in through society siteâ€™ in the sign in pane within a journal:

Click Sign in through society site.
When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

Personal account

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

Institutional account management

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Metrics

Total Views 3

2 Pageviews

1 PDF Downloads

Since 10/1/2022

Month:	Total Views:
October 2022	1
March 2024	2

Contents

Foreword to the first edition

Extract

Email alerts

Contents

Foreword to the first edition

Extract

Sign in

Personal account

Institutional access

Institutional account management

Get help with access

Institutional access

IP based access

Sign in through your institution

Sign in with a library card

Society Members

Sign in through society site

Sign in using a personal account

Personal account

Viewing your signed in accounts

Signed in but can't access content

Institutional account management

Purchase

Email alerts

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only