Two recent trends in medical education, the growth of interest in
biomedical ethics and the examination of psychiatry's status in medicine,
have important implications for psychiatry. Educators are needed to bring a
clinical perspective to bear on ethics instruction, yet psychiatrists risk
missing this opportunity. Psychiatrists are uniquely suited to contribute
because of their expertise in three areas: an understanding of the
affective, nonrational components in ethical thought and behavior, a
developmental perspective regarding personal morality, and an appreciation
of the rootedness of ethics in the social ethos. Problems with contemporary
ethical models of informed consent illustrate the value of psychiatry's
contribution.Abstract Teaser