Social Ethics in Medical Education

Expanding Our Calling: Social Ethics in Medical Education is a compendium of essays that represent the thoughts and teachings of a group of philosophers, academicians, and community activists who teach at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, USA.

They present cutting-edge discussions on a variety of topical issues that are not always included in the medical school curriculum.

These include the specifics for the care of the homeless, problems dealing with discrimination among HIV-infected individuals, the growing epidemic and need for containment of the global sex trade, the physician involvement in torture in recent conflicts, the physicians involvement in the death penalty in some jurisdictions, the emerging issues of caring for large populations of migrants, the interface of new genetic techniques with ethical issues, and issues related to research activities in general.

Most of these issues have surfaced in the Houston area, but all are a problem in many areas of the globe today where movement of peoples, conflicts with power, new diseases, and homelessness all create a fabric that medical students will have to contend with in their future activities as physicians.

The solutions to these problems are not evident, but the authors provide a variety of prescriptions to help with the care of patients in the increasingly complex and multinational societies in which we live.