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Medical Trainees Abroad: Neglected Human Rights Considerations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

Jacob M. Appel Open the ORCID record for Jacob M. Appel [Opens in a new window]
Jacob M. Appel*
Affiliation:
Academy for Medicine & the Humanities, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Health System, New York, NY, USA
*
Email: jacobmappel@gmail.com; jacob.appel@mssm.edu
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Abstract

Medical trainees (applicants, students, and house officers) often engage in global health initiatives to enhance their own education through research and patient care. These endeavors may concomitantly prove of value to host nations in filling unmet clinical needs. At present, healthcare institutions generally focus on the safety of the trainee and the welfare of potential patients and research subjects when sanctioning such programs. The American medical community has historically afforded less consideration to the ethics of engagement by trainees from the United States in nations known for serious human rights transgressions. This essay examines the ethics of such endeavors and argues for increased consideration of these broader considerations when trainees engage in global health work abroad.

Keywords

human rightsmedical educationresidency education
Type
Commentary
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , First View , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

Notes

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