The Health Risks of Oral Contraceptives

I do not know if the non-medical advocates of hormonal contraceptives for birth control have their information wrong or they are just like those health professionals who are succumbing to pressures from health policy makers and government. I say this because it seems to me that there is a continuous refusal to see the facts that indeed there have been many documented adverse reactions resulting from contraceptive use, the latest of which is The Lancet study, that reported that there is a strong link between HIV transmission and the use of hormonal contraceptives, particularly injectable hormones such as Depo-Provera aka "the shot".

Teaching Empathy In Health Care

As a member of the medical profession, it is painful to see a progressive decline in empathy and conscientiousness in recent years among healthcare providers especially among new doctors. Medicine is a service career and what the patients need are compassionate, conscientious and caring doctors who will be role models for all other health care providers. The noble dictum of service above self  seems to have been replaced by the new order of self first before others.  This is the major motivation why I have been teaching Medical Ethics for the last 9 years.

Virtues Of A Healthcare Professional

Virtues are defined as positive traits of character to think and act in ways that are good. It is to do what is morally right. I will not attempt to discuss the concept or philosophy of virtues as a whole, that is not my area of expertise.  But I have been in the health care industry  and teaching profession long enough to know that the character of a person is not given much weight in the evaluation process for entrance to medical or nursing schools, nor is it given much focus in the teaching curriculum.  This lack of emphasis is in my opinion, a big oversight on the part of medical/nursing schools and residency programs.