Ethical dilemmas confronting dentists in Queensland, Australia

Background: This paper details contemporary ethical dilemmas encountered by Queensland dentists. Methods: An age-stratified sample of 499 dentists resident in Queensland was surveyed. The questionnaire contained scenarios of five common ethical dilemmas. In addition, open-ended questions sought the respondent's most frequent, difficult and recent ethical dilemmas, and where they would seek guidance in dealing with ethical problems. Results: Respondents acknowledged the patient's rights in treatment decisions and the dentist's right to refuse demands for inappropriate treatment. However, responses varied in the extent to which dentists may influence treatment decisions. Few respondents would ignore evidence of poor dental treatment but they are evenly divided in choosing to inform the patient, the dentist or both. Poor quality treatment is the most frequent and difficult dilemma, and half have experienced this problem recently. Requests by patients for fraudulent receipts occur in a third of responses. Dentists develop ethical values from multiple sources but for help with dental ethical problems, 90 per cent of respondents would consult another dentist. Conclusions: Of the ethical dilemmas discussed in this survey, those relating to poor quality treatment confronted most respondents. Also the actions of dentists in dealing with these dilemmas were most varied.

Eating ethically: Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil (Exploring the ethical realms of anorexia and so-called states of grace)

Emmanuel Levinas's work on the ethical responsibility of the face-to-face relation offers an illuminating context or clearing within which we might better appreciate the work of Simone Weil. Levinas's subjectivity of the hostage, the one who is responsible for the other before being responsible for the self, provides us with a way of re-encountering the categories of gravity and grace invoked in Weil's original account. In this paper I explore the terrain between these thinkers by raising the question of eating as, in part, an ethical act. Weil's conception of grace refers to the state of decreation in which the utter humility of the self moves toward a kind of disintegration and weightlessness. this weightlessness, which Weil contrasts to the gravity of terrestrial weight, might be thought of in terms of the subject's fundamental responsibility for the other, especially in terms of the injunction Thou shalt neither kill nor take the food of thy neighbour. Taking the place of the other, taking the food from the mouth of the other, is the ethical dilemma facing the subject as hostage and an elaboration of this situation may provide us with steps toward a radical questioning of anorexia as - at least in part - an ethical rather than purely medical condition.

Exchange rate sensitivity of Australian international equity funds

This paper analyses the exchange rate exposure displayed by a sample of Australian international equity trusts (IET). Exchange rate exposure is also examined in the context of differing economic climates with particular emphasis on the Asian crisis in mid-1997. It is found that there is evidence of exchange rate exposure particularly in the context of a multiple exchange rate model. Exposure varies substantially between three alternative time periods with different exposure apparent subsequent to the Asian crisis than prior to this event.

Returns from investing in Australian equity superannuation funds, 1991-1999

In this analysis of investment manager performance, two questions are addressed. First, do managers that actively trade stocks create value for investors? Second, can the multifactor model of Gruber capture the cross-section of average fund returns for the Australian setting? The answers from this study are as follows: as an industry, investment managers destroyed value for superannuation investors for the period 1991 through 1999, under-performing passive portfolio returns by 2.80-4.00 per cent per annum on a risk-unadjusted basis and 0.50-0.93 per cent per annum on a risk-adjusted basis. Evidence is provided in support of the four-factor model of Gruber; however, the model fails to capture the impact of investment style for the Australian setting. The findings suggest that Australian superannuation investors would transform their retirement savings into retirement income more efficiently through the use of passive alternatives to the stock selection problem.

Differences in ethical attitudes between registered nurses and medical students

In this study we compared the ethical attitudes of a group of experienced, predominantly female, registered nurses (n = 67) with those of a group of final year, mixed sex, medical students (n = 125). The purpose was to determine the basis of differences in attitudes that could lead to ethical disagreements between these two groups when they came to work together. A questionnaire developed to explore ethical attitudes was administered and the responses of the two groups were compared using t-tests. Because of the preponderance of females among the nurses an analysis of variance of the gender-adjusted scores for each group was also carried out. On comparing the responses, the nurses differed significantly from the medical students in a number of ethical domains. A potential source of conflict between these two groups is that the nurses were inclined to adopt the perspective of patients but the medical students identified with their profession. When corrected for the effects of gender, the differences persisted, indicating that it was discipline that determined the differences. We recommend that students of nursing and medicine receive ethics education together, and that more open dialogue between doctors and nurses with respect to their different ethical viewpoints is needed in the work setting. This article will be of interest to educators of students of medicine and nursing, as well as to doctors and nurses who are eager to improve their professional relations and thereby improve patient care.

Ethical and professional conduct of medical students: review of current assessment measures and controversies

As medical education increasingly acknowledges the importance of the ethical and professional conduct of practitioners, and moves towards more formal assessment of these issues, it is important to consider the evidence base which exists in this area. This article discusses literature about the health needs and problems experienced by medical practitioners as a background to a review of the current efforts in medical education to promote ethical conduct and develop mechanisms for the detection and remediation of problems.

The relationship between exchange rate exposure, currency risk management and performance of international equity funds

This paper assesses the currency risk management policies for a sample of Australian international equity trusts. The relevance of currency risk management is considered in the context of exchange rate exposure and performance measures. The study incorporates differing economic climates and particular emphasis is given to the Asian crisis in mid-1997. Our results indicate that a good proportion of funds do implement specific currency risk management policies. Furthermore, we find that for those funds managing currency risk, there is some evidence of a favourable impact on currency exposure and fund performance.