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Medical Ethics and Medical Professionalism in Low and Middle Income (LAMIC) 

Countries: Challenges and Implications. 

  
Albert M. E. Coleman, MD, MPH, MSC. 
Centre of Bioethics, Medical Law and Patient Advocacy. 

Sekondi, Ghana (W. Africa) 

Email: albert.coleman@gmail.com.  

 
ABSTRACT: This article examines the (bio) ethical and professionalism issues that may arise in the context of 

medical practice in low and middle income countries (LAMIC), and the challenges this poses for medical regulatory 

bodies in the regions, in upholding ethics in professional practice. A quadrangle of source of the problems given rise 

to the breach of ethics in medical practice is identified, and suggested steps, based on ethical principles and concept, 

is proposed towards the resolution of the problems presented. As LAMIC progress to improve the health of its 

population, this endeavour should occur hand in hand with contemporary medical ethics theories, taking in context 

the region’s ethnographic and cultural beliefs and practices. 

 

Key words. Physicians, low and middle income countries, medical (bio) ethics, professionalism. 

 
INTRODUCTION: The core of medical practice is the doctor-patient interaction and relationship. This can take the 

form of a clinic one to one encounter, or between the doctor/medical team, and the community. For the individual 

patient or the population that relationship plays a big part in the management of his/ her or their illness, as well as 

when issues of patient satisfaction is explored. The issue of doctor-patient relationship is not that straight forward, as 

several factors influence the balance of forces at play in that relationship. In this complex inter-play of doctor-patient 

relationship, the factors that influence the relationship, and the issue of the balance of force, or otherwise put the 

power balance at any point in the relationship; brings up the vital role of (bio) ethics and professionalism in medical 

practice. Several breaches immediately crop up when one then considers the quadrangle of factors [doctors, patients, 

(bio) ethics and professionalism], especially in LAMIC. These breaches reported on in the public domain include 

doctors using the professional encounters to strike up inappropriate liaisons with their patients
1
, doctors coercing 

patients to cough up extra sums of monies to access or obtain treatment, in otherwise non-fee public hospitals 
2,,3

, in 

some instances doctor’s with-holding treatment as their asking price could not be met by public sector patients. 

Doctors given out sick certificates to otherwise well persons in exchange for money 
4
, Doctors accepting bribes from 

patients in exchange for rendering care to patients 
5
. Doctors engaging in clandestine organ trade and organ 

harvesting 
6 

or doctors conniving with pharmaceutical companies to cheat state health systems, or encourage trading 

in counterfeit medications 
2
. 

 
The list and prevalence of breaches is long, and covers acts of commission or omission among doctors from LAMIC, 

(as well as in a few countries with developed economies) 
2
. Several factors come to mind as contributing to such a 

situation, among which is lack of stringent professional governance, reluctance of professionals to blow the whistle on 

those brazenly bringing the profession into disrepute, and probably institutional denial. None the less, real life tells us 

that all over the world it is not the attributes of the majority who play by the rules that matter, --- (after all medical 

professionals are expected to play by the rules)! It is the mischief of the minority who do not work or play by the rules 

that make the notorious headlines, and hence bring the profession into disrepute.  In the case of Sub-Saharan 

countries, an article describes these unethical professional behaviour in the specific country as “live hood strategies”, 
in response to the effects of economic mismanagement, poverty and bad governance 

7
; Or in other countries, survival 

related emergent strategies, mentioned elsewhere by other authors 
8-10

. In most countries classified socio-

economically as “developed”, the doctor patient relationship and ethical behaviour of doctors in their day to day 

practice, (and even outside the work place) are considered serious. This is so vital that the various professional 

governing bodies have taking strong stands on this, with medical ethics and professionalism, patient rights and 

protecting the patient/public being the centre of focus. Prototypes of such regulatory activity in the English speaking 

countries, especially on patient –doctor relationship is that of the general medical council (GMC), of England and 

Wales 
11

 and the American medical association (AMA) principles of medical ethics 
12

. Granted, in principle 

professional governing bodies in LAMIC have most of the core tenants of ethical medical practice enshrined in their 

code of practice, the evidence indicates enforcement is relatively weak, in comparison with the situation in developed 

mailto:albert.coleman@gmail.com


Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015; 6(2):1-7 

 

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or non-LAMIC countries 
8
.  Some of the cited reasons for this non-ethical behaviours among some LAMIC  physicians 

being that a lot of these countries are considered “low resource” countries in terms of professional manpower, 
finances, oversight, governance, and the problem of level of population literacy etc. The snowball effect of these 

factors impacts on the local regulatory agencies to effectively do their work; these factors are even more pronounced 

in Sub-Saharan Africa 
8-10

. 

 

In the area of clinical research in most LAMIC settings, the problem of patient rights and medical (bio) ethics has 

been relatively pursued in recent years, in part due to collaboration with (bio) ethicists from the developed countries 
13-14

. On the other hand the issues of patient’s rights, (bio) ethics and medical (mal) practice or patient related fitness 

to practice issues involving offending doctors in most developing countries; do not generally get the publicity and 

press to inform patients, the public or serve as warning to other doctors. The literature on this in the public domain is 

sparse, this being a situation in other Countries outside Western Europe, hence an effort being initiated to develop a 

worldwide regulatory and information exchange agency 
15

.  

 

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PRINCIPLES OF MEDICAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM: The word ethics in general 

usage preoccupies with issues to do with moral existence and the norms that determine what is morally acceptable or 

not, in society at large (and in particular). Ethics as applied to medicine otherwise known as medical ethics, falls 

under the general umbrella of bioethics (recognised as applied ethics), and preoccupies with the application of moral 

philosophy principles to resolving moral problems in the field of medicine 
16

. The principal theories underlying 

contemporary medical ethics stems from the various moral philosophical/ethical theories - viz consequential ethical 

theory, utilitarianism,, deontological or duty based ethical theory and some combination of the two 
16,17

; recognising 

though, the existence of other theories of ethics. For healthcare professional bodies of the like of medicine though, 

prescriptive “professional obligations” are primary, but not necessarily enough. Hence supererogation (beyond 

obligation), which relies on the moral ideal or excellence, becomes important 
17

, therein lies the importance of virtue 

ethics. Clearly, the times when physician behaviour was tied to the ancient Hippocratic oath or even any of its 

modified forms, as oaths or dictates informing physician behaviour, cannot necessarily be described as contemporary 

medical ethics. 

 

Consequential ethical theory is a consequence-based theory, with utilitarianism being a usual example of 

consequentialism. Utilitarianism centres primarily on maximising happiness (and for that matter minimising suffering). 

This is best described by Bentham as the greatest happiness for the greatest number 16. Deontological theory on the 

other hand is a duty based theory where call of duty is the core principle, the name Kant is very much associated with 

duty based moral theory, in ethics and philosophy texts. Beyond these theories several others, for example 

personalist, human rights based, communitarian, libertarian etc, and other moral theories exists to be looked at and 

applied where appropriate.  

 

FRAMEWORKS IN NAVIGATING ETHICAL ISSUES IN MEDICAL SETTINGS: In navigating issues of medical 

ethics, several moral theories can be utilised, as mentioned above. On the other hand, time limited real life clinical 

settings, may not immediately lend itself as a theatre of moral philosophical discourse. However some moral 

philosophy based ethical frameworks do exist for immediate application and use in clinical settings, that can 

withstand the pressure of time limited clinical encounters. One such framework well known among healthcare 

professional (HCP), especially physicians and medical students, is “the four principles” 19-20
.  

 

The four principles are autonomy, beneficence, non-malfeascence and justice. Patient autonomy is at the core of 

ethical medical practice in most developed countries (especially Anglo-American). This recognises the rights of the 

patient, and bestows upon the patient certain undeniable   privileges a patient is due, in his or her capacity as a 

person and patient.  Autonomy recognises the individual and his/her attributes of personhood, and as a rational 

being.  Beneficence is the duty only to do good in the interest of the person/patient. Non-malfeascence, or the duty 

not to cause harm to the person/patient, otherwise the duty of the doctor not to abuse his/her professional role in the 

patient doctor relationship 
16

. Finally justice primarily focuses on adjudication of competing interest between people; 

or for communities, distributive justice in allocation of scarce resources. 

 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015; 6(2):1-7 

 

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Another framework utilised increasingly in clinical settings is the four boxes approach. In this case ethical dilemmas 

arising are looked at from the point of view of the patient, medical necessity, quality of life and contextual or other 

factors 
21

. 

  

A third frame work emphasizes the healthcare professional (HCP) and patient dyadic relationship under the guise of 

care ethics, which combines elements of feminine ethics, Levinasian ethics and virtue ethics. Care ethics seeks to 

ensure the patient “does not fall through the   web of vulnerability” 22
. In this case the importance of a “virtuous” 

character, in combination with a caring nature, and an ability to perceive the patient’s suffering in the light of the “thou 
and l” Levinisian concept 

23
, is key to ensuring the suffering patient does not slip through the web of vulnerability, and 

get lost. These mentioned frameworks are meant to quickly prime and orientate physicians, and act as ethical road 

maps, to guide their day to day doctor – patient interaction, in an otherwise hectic and time limited clinical setting.  

 

DISCUSSION: Medical practice worldwide over and above the Hippocratic Oath is governed by normative or moral 

philosophical theories as enshrined in (contemporary) medical ethics 
16

. Contemporary medical ethics is considered a 

sub-field of bioethics (informed in a large part by normative based scholarship from the field of philosophy). In 

developed countries, just as with governance, there are checks and balances which ensures good state governance, 

and in that sense good professional codes of practice. Unfortunately one cannot say that with confidence about 

similar attitudes to governance in most LAMIC settings 
2
. Notwithstanding even in developed countries, there is the 

occasional slip in the execution of the mechanism of governance and equally of the code of practice of professionals 
2
. A case in point in England was the Harold Shipman saga, which eventually changed the internal composition and 

some operational procedures of the oversight role of the professional governing body of medicine, and part of the 

code of practice of medicine (18). Unfortunately in LAMIC settings, as mentioned earlier there appears to be an array 

of factors that may contribute to systematic abuse of the patient-doctor relationship by physicians, relative to the 

situation in developed countries 
8-10

.   

 

The issue of relatively high illiteracy rates in developing countries, could be contributory too. There have been case 

studies indicating that doctors in some LAMIC settings may use the issue of illiteracy to exert paternalistic pressure in 

the patient-doctor relationship, with doctors adopting the “know best" attitude 
19

. In some LAMIC regions, relatively 

high poverty levels coupled with poor governance has contributed to an increasing pool of vulnerable groups in the 

population. As one author writes “vulnerable individuals and groups are subjected to exploitation, and exploitation is 

morally wrong” 20
, hence a need for vulnerability to be a pre-occupation of bioethics. Of note and of some relevance is 

that a fair number of LAMIC, are plagued with issues of corruption and human rights abuses; these problematic 

factors, may probably filter down and impact on the doctor-patient interaction/setting (although admittedly not 

necessarily). I raise this issue as corruption and human rights abuse, do not occur in a vacuum, and are especially 

relevant negative forces, in a setting of power imbalance (as the like of the doctor-patient-relationships). Admittedly if 

these two problematic factors rear its head in the doctor-patient interaction, medical ethics and professionalism 

stands to lose. Issues of ethics, governance and regulation of medical practice, among others has been the focus of 

all regulatory organisations that oversees the practice of medicine in almost all countries. However when one 

compares regulatory practices in the developed nations to that in most LAMIC settings, the standard and thresh-hold 

of how those that breach these ethical guides of good medical practice are held accountable may differ 
24

. A case in 

point to illustrate the intersection of poverty, vulnerability, corruption in medicine and medical practice, corruption in 

medical education, medical regulation  and medical ethics/bioethics in a LAMIC setting is the example in India, 

considered one of the largest (if not the largest) democracies; which prompted an article in the Indian journal of 

medical ethics 
25

. I am sure what the author was writing about is not a situation of concern only for India, but occurs in 

many LAMIC settings, except that in this case the article zoomed in on the situation in India. 

 

Of importance in medical practice is to re-enforce the notion of respect for the patient/community, not respect in the 

semantic sense but the special sense relevant to the doctor-patient relationship 
26

. This in a way is akin to Kant’s 
notion of rational person or agent, - being an end in him/herself, and not a means to an end 

27
. As to the poverty and  

governance issues in some developing countries that tend to contribute to questionable ethical behaviour; 

governments in  those countries have to seriously tackle the factors and machinery of perpetual poverty. This can be 

achieved by way of tackling social injustice, sound economic policies and promoting appropriate socio-political 

development 
28

.This eventually will free its citizenry (including doctors and other health staff), from the attribute or 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015; 6(2):1-7 

 

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survival factors that impact on good ethical practices. This last point is somehow in line with the ethics of liberation 

theology 
29-30

, which attempts to debate problems of this sort. 

 

Considering the ethics of doctor-patient interaction models, (paternalistic, independent, autonomy and passive) (31), 

medical practitioners in some LAMIC settings tend to be paternalistic, this most times tends to down play patient 

autonomy in the interaction 
32

. This brings me to the other important thing in patient-doctor interactions in developed 

countries (especially Anglo-American settings), that is pronouncements on “medical professionalism” 33
. This new 

professionalism among other things recognise and embody some of the moral and ethics based issues previously 

mentioned - autonomy 
17

, personhood/rational agent 
27

 and respect 
26

. Obviously for a meaningful change for 

physicians from LAMIC settings to meet ethical expectations demanded by the profession, there need to be a shift to 

discard the current style of doctor –patient interaction that potentially could set the stage for unethical practices. 

Instead they and their national regulatory bodies should embrace seriously the tenets of medical ethics and 

revamped concept of medical professionalism, as mentioned earlier 
33

. Whilst on the subject of professionalism, one 

cannot ignore an important attribute of a professional as applied to physicians mentioned earlier, that of going beyond 

the obligation imposed by the profession, otherwise referred to as supererogation 
17

. This denotes not only 

competence as a member of a professional body, but the use of this competence in the best interest of the patient 

and where the situation demands, going over and above the usual obligations demanded by the profession; all this 

against a background of trust. This all encompassing professional attribute is a virtue based ethics, or specifically 

virtue in the ethics of the medical profession. It is this that confers the “special status to those of the medical 
profession in society at large” 34

. Here again, the task is to effect such a paradigm shift in the profession in developing 

countries.  One can realise that a fundamental or basic starting threshold for tackling the problems of moral and 

ethical importance in the practice of medicine in these regions, is a strong and energetic drive to train medical 

practitioners in the region in the principles and practice of contemporary medical ethics. In medical schools in the 

region, the curriculum of medical schools should have a compulsory biomedical ethics component 
24, 34

, as 

increasingly pertains in the curriculum in most (if not all) developed countries, rather than being offered as an elective 
35

. This should extend also to post-graduate medical education 
36, 37,

 with accelerated training of medical ethicist as 

with other medical specialties. Eventually (and hopefully) a critical mass of medical ethicist can come into being in 

LAMIC settings to teach, form institutional ethics board, research ethics committees, think tanks etc. This is not a 

developed or western country ideal, but rather an inescapable relevance 
38

 for the maintenance and continued 

improvement of the professional level of practitioners of the medical profession. Additionally this ensures 

accountability of the profession and eventually empowers our patients to participate equally in the promotion and 

maintenance of their health.  One would argue some restraint about medical regulatory bodies adopting what may be 

seen as culturally unsuitable moral principles or ethical guidelines 
39-40

. An approximation of such a worry was 

expressed by an academic in North America, commenting on ethical practice by black physicians based on the 

phenomenon of “belonging” and “negriscence building”, in their professional interaction with fellow black patients 
41.

 

This as opposed to what he considered a white culture based ethical theory/practice. I am afraid any analogous 

reasoning along those lines in the case of the medical profession and regulatory bodies in LAMIC settings in raising 

their level of ethical practice, to levels as practised and maintained in developing countries is nothing short of “ethical 

relativism” 40
. 

 

On the other hand considering the world –wide variety of cultures, some attention to specific cultural norms in ethical 

decision making against a background of contemporary ethical principles may prove good practice in the long term. 

Another school of ethical thinking however argues that there are core ethical principles that are universal and non-

negotiable, across cultural lines 
42

.  

 

CONCLUSION: All said there is relatively an obvious gap in medical ethics practices and adherence in LAMIC 

settings in comparison to what pertains in most developed economy settings (even for some LAMIC settings 

otherwise classified as “higher middle developed countries”) 43
. These gaps may be attributed to various cultural, 

social and finance driving factors as elaborated in previous chapters, as well as a relative dearth of medical ethics 

teaching in medical education in LAMIC settings. Medical (bio) ethics education is considered essential in the 

formative stages of undergraduate medical education, and the life span of the practising physician. It is not expensive 

to acquire as the likes of some of the out of reach diagnostic equipment and medical procedures, even for those in 

developed economy settings. On the other hand what is required for its strong incorporation in LAMIC settings is a 

commitment by medical regulatory bodies, professional associations, medical schools and governments to put in 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2015; 6(2):1-7 

 

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place the directives and mechanisms to ensure that medical (bio) ethics is whole heartedly incorporated in medical 

education and practice, as done in “developed “regions 14-15
.  Hopefully such an education driven measure 

incorporating some elements of social marketing initiatives may eventually lead to a change in attitude of most 

medical practitioners in LAMIC settings, towards an (bio) ethics driven professional attitude coupled with their 

technical expertise; leading to improved doctor patient relations, increased patient satisfaction, increased patient 

outcome measures as well as upholding of patient dignity in LAMIC settings. 

 

COMPETING INTEREST: None to declare. 

 

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	COMPETING INTEREST: None to declare.

