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Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2021; 12 (1) 

 

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Editorial  

Vol 12 No 1 (Medical Ethics) 

With its origin in the Hippocrates Oath (5th-3rd Century BC), The Nuremberg Codes (1947), and 

The Declaration of Helsinki (1964), medical ethics set the rules of the professional conducts for 

the physicians and other medical specialists. It amounts to the deployment of bioethical concepts, 

values (Autonomy, Non-maleficence, Beneficence, and Justice) and methods within medical set 

up to suggest the day-to-day decision-making procedures by combining theory and practice. It is 

a multidisciplinary study as it seeks to develop a set of guidelines for moral decision-making 

utilizing the resources of not only medicine and biology, but also of law, philosophy, theology, 

and the social sciences. As the branch of Bioethics, it investigates the complex ethical problems 

which arise for human life and society from sophisticated medical-technological usages and 

biological practices. The problems specifically include the nature and distribution of treatment 

and medical resources, the informed consent and authority of the patient, the physician and others 

involved in the medical practices, the scope and limits of confidentiality, the limits of acceptable 

intervention and experimentation, and the propriety of research involving humans and their 

applications. It also deals with the questions of moral dimensions and professional responsibilities 

involving all forms of ‘life-related’ issues such as research involving foetal tissues, withdrawal 

of life-sustaining medical treatment, issues over death, prenatal diagnosis and abortion, the 

storage of frozen embryos. Medical ethics is intricately linked to the culture and glocal values. 

To emphasise such aspect, the following papers come together to enrich this volume.  

 

The first paper entitled Religious, Cultural and Legal Barriers to Organ Donation: The Case of 

Bangladesh by Farid, M., & Naim Mou, T draws the attention of the readers to the fact that 

although organ donation can save a great many lives, there is a differential view points of the 

Bangladeshi Muslim clerics against organ donation. Combined with other cultural and legal issues 

including the Bangladesh Organ Donation Act (1999, amended in 2018), these differential 

viewpoints cause major obstacles and reduce the donor pool in the country. 

The second paper on The Case of Doctor-Patient Relationship in Bangladesh: An Application 

of Relational Model of Autonomy by Ahmed, T. (2021) proposes that relational model of 

autonomy better suits the doctor-patient relationship in the context of Bangladesh. Highlighting 

the potential obstacles for the implementation of such model, the paper reasoned that once the 

obstacles are worked upon, the relational model has greater scope to work better since it considers 

keeping “care” as the focal point of the service.  

The third paper on Understanding of Authorship by the Post Graduate Medical Students at a 

Center in Bangladesh by Lasker, S., Begum, M., Hossain, A., Matin, M. A., Islam, S., & Macer, 

D. (2021) studies the understanding of the knowledge, skills and attitude of post graduate medical 

students on authorship. It highlights a general lack of understanding of the basic concept of 

authorship ethics among the targeted group. The paper also indicates that the education on 

authorship of research papers helps in improving the awareness of such concept.  

The fourth paper on Ethical issues in biomedical research in Nigeria: a systematic review by 

Ikeagwulonu, C., Uneke, C., & Uchejeso, O. (2021) assesses the various ethical issues that have 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2021; 12 (1) 

 

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been associated with biomedical research in Nigeria. The paper identifies that the most common 

ethical issue that has been widely investigated is the issue of informed consent. The paper also 

identifies that varying degree of understanding of rights of research subjects exist in the 

population. As a result, the paper suggests to enhance the capacity of investigators to better 

understand these issues and also increase their explanatory skill to help participants achieve 

complete understanding of the rights and various process of the biomedical research in Nigeria. 

This volume of the journal has also received two short commentaries which added value to the 

journal through their unique views. The first commentary on COVID-19 Pandemic: Ethical and 

Medical issues arising for people with disability in Bangladesh by Uddin, T., Mohammad, H. 

T., & Siddiquee, N. (2021) emphasises that disability rights need to be considered in the inclusive 

pandemic preparedness and responses. The commentary opines that such comprehensive and 

ethical pandemic preparedness is essential especially in the developing countries where doctor-

patient ratio varies and the country has access to limited medical resources. Else, with enhanced 

suffering of the particular groups during the pandemic like disaster, the social justice is violated. 

Hence, pandemic preparedness needs to be ethical and inclusive.  

The second commentary on Why A New Ethical Framework is Needed to Eliminate Disability 

Discrimination? A New Learning from The Pandemic by Ranju, G., & Serice, T. (2021) 

highlights that existing ethical frameworks are unable to address the issues of the fairness and 

justice especially when the dilemma involves prioritising the rights of the disabled and non-

disabled during the pandemic. The commentary recommends the need of new ethics-based 

research, policy directions, and frameworks to eliminate the discrimination between rights of 

disable and non-disable people even in hospital admissions during the pandemic.  

As the guest editor of the issue, I thank all the authors for focusing on the different aspects of 

medical ethics and selecting the journal, thereby, adding value to the journal through their varied 

contributions. I convey my heartfelt gratitude to all the reviewers for giving your precious time to 

review the papers of the issue and also in providing valuable insights and comments for the 

contributors to strengthen their arguments for the topic. I am also grateful to Professor Shamima 

Parvin Lasker and Ms. Tahera Ahmed for assigning the role to me for the volume.  

Finally, I hope readers the papers in the volume would help our readers to think differently to 

address the ethical issues arising in the domain of the medical ethics.  

Thank you, 

Dr. Rhyddhi Chakraborty FHEA 

(Programme Leader (HND-Health Care Practice), Global Banking School, London, UK 

Visiting Faculty (Philosophy & Global Health), AUSN, USA 

Senior Associate Member, Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK) 

Guest Editor, Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics, Vol.12, No. 1 

 

References 

Chakraborty, Rhyddhi. Ethics in Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan: A Perspective from Social Justice 

URI: http://www.idr.iitkgp.ac.in/xmlui/handle/123456789/5051 Date: 2014-12 

 


