- Dr. Lauris Christopher Kaldjian is a licensed physician and professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa.
- His views do not represent the University of Iowa.
I have been a physician and teacher of ethics at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine for 24 years. During this time it has been a privilege to teach medical ethics to thousands of medical students.
One of the courses I teach is called “Oaths and Ethics”. It helps students think about what it means to take a medical oath — to make a public promise to do some things and not to do other things, and to be a certain kind of person, a person who tries to put the medical needs of patients first. We talk about ethical challenges students experience in medical school, and about the challenges they will face as doctors. As we focus on what it means to be a medical professional, we acknowledge the need for deep individual motivation to do what we believe is good and right, especially when it may be tempting to let money, ego, or convenience get in the way.