Our last meeting regarding the Virtuous Physician was apparently successful and there were lots of positive comments about the format and ground we covered. Many of the points made were very practical and useful. Dr. Gordon Wilson of UNCA briefly reviewed many of the fundamentals of ethics, including the major categories of ethical thought, namely Deontological Ethics and Teleological Ethics (also referred to as Consequentialist Ethics). He outlined some of the "virtues" that a physician should have and some of the factors that must be taken in to consideration when dealing with patients, such as respect for their autonomy, honesty in conveying information to them, informed consent, plus qualities necessary to become and remain in the practice of medicine such as the sense of duty and responsibility, courage, and tenacity.

Dr. Milton Conley, a practicing vascular surgeon, talked about past attitudes of physicians who were expected to attain a quality of moral excellence, who were conceived of as kindly, personal family friends and who made house calls. In spite of the fact that physicians of old had little ability to alter the courses of disease, yet they were held in very high esteem.

Mr. Robert Bednarek, administrator at Transylvania Hospital in Brevard, presented ideas culled from his many years of experience with physicians. He felt the best physicians were those who were patient focused, knew their limits, were dedicated, caring, and good listeners. They had a desire to improve themselves by continued learning. He felt good physicians also had to be good teachers, instructing paramedical personnel, families, other physicians as well as the patient.

Today, by contrast, even though knowledge, diagnostic capacity and the ability to improve and even cure disorders is much higher, general respect towards physicians is lower because of economic and political issues which have insinuated themselves into patient care.

The physician had to be a good team player today. He felt they also had to have a larger concern for the health of the community, a holistic perspective considering the Body-Mind-Spiritual elements of the patient, his family and their bearing on the patient's life. Lastly, the ideal physician exhibited the qualities of trustworthiness, integrity, honesty and direct communication.

Dr. Al Iosue presented a historical perspective of medicine, contrasting the early history of the Shaman, the dominant God-consciousness and religious paradigms of the past with the technological secular humanism which is dominant today. These result in very different ideas of virtuosity. Today patients want "results" and virtuosity may be considered as "competence."

This coming program is entitled "The Ethics of Care: A Feminist Perspective." It will be presented by Melissa Burchard, Ph.D from the Department of Philosophy at UNCA Asheville. The presentation will be followed by a moderated discussion with audience participation.

Is there a difference between the morals/ethics of males/men vs. females/women? Is biology destiny and the determinant of our philosophy? Do females "care" more than "males" or do we care somehow differently? Or is it all simply learned and inculcated from our personal histories and culture? These are some of the questions which will be implicit in this discussion.

The next IAP-UNCA Joint Meeting on Medical Ethics will be held on Wed., Oct. 27, 1999, at 7:30 pm at the Kellogg Center, 11 Broyles Rd. just west of downtown Hendersonville off route #64.