Population Matters, London , 29th February 2020 Presentation for NHC
*1 Thank you. Good afternoon.
Natron healthcare gives health education to remote Maasai villages in N Tanzania. The title here states NGOs and family planning but does not say that we are specifically a British NGO and Tanzania is of course a member of the developing world.
My title presents that it is to outline our moral dilemmas,
But there will also be a small workshop to break it up, and show you just a few of the educational tools that we have created
*2 I’m Penny Aeberhard.
It’s worthwhile you know that I am not an ethicist. During 30 years of work as a GP, I had wide-ranging discussions with social workers about child abuse cases, end- of- life-care and patient choice for treatment options. I attended for a year a rolling workshop for GPs on ethical values, – at the end of which my take-home messages included Respect for Autonomy.
But I repeat, I am not an ethicist. I am aware of how General Practice is rarely black and white , more shades of grey, and the way to move forward was to share problems with colleagues and then also the patients themselves, leaving final decisions to them , with or without their nearest and dearest.
The other point is that, as a GP, I tried hard to channel my thoughts into clear and simple English (deconstructing consultants’ jargon). I shall keep to this format today.