Dr Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki, Maryam Modabber, Dr Alireza Parsapour, Maryam Sadat Mousavi,
Volume 0, Issue 0 (9-2025)
Abstract
Professional guidelines such as the Disciplinary Regulations of the Medical Council of Iran serve as a framework for governing the professional conduct of health professionals and play a vital role in safeguarding the ethical and professional standards of medical services. This study aims to examine the historical and substantive evolution of the Medical Council’s disciplinary regulations in Iran from 1969 to 2011. These regulations constitute the first legally binding document in modern Iranian medicine with enforceable authority, introducing certain standards of medical professional ethics in a relatively systematic manner and mandating their observance based on the powers granted by the law establishing the Medical Council.
The research method is a historical and comparative content analysis of relevant documents and regulations, through which structural, substantive, and supervisory changes have been assessed. The findings indicate that these regulations have undergone five revisions. Over time, the content has moved away from virtue-based language and an emphasis on ethical values, adopting instead a more legalistic approach centered on medical negligence and malpractice. Other changes include the expansion of scope from physicians to all health professionals, a shift in the conceptualization of the physician–patient relationship, a reduced emphasis on moral virtues, and the increasing prominence of bureaucratic, administrative, and procedural aspects. These developments reflect broader social, legal, and professional transformations in Iran. Studying them contributes to a clearer understanding of the trajectory of these regulations and can provide a foundation for their future revision and improvement.
Zahra Sadat Manzari, Easa Mohammadi, Abbas Heidari, Hamidreza Aghamohammadian Sherbaf, Mohammad Jafar Modabber Azizi, Ebrahim Khaleghi,
Volume 4, Issue 6 (12-2011)
Abstract
The aim of this study was to explore experiences of family members of patients confronting brain death diagnosis and the request for organ donation.
A qualitative study was designed focusing on content analysis. Data collection process included 38 unstructured in- depth interviews with relatives of 26 brain death patients who were candidate for organ donation and field notes. Sampling method began as purposive and continued as theoretical until saturation.
Five main themes were extracted from the current dataset that indicated family experiences and perceptions of brain death concept while being informed. The themes were included internal conflict, internal barriers against external realities, imminent sense of loss and grief, surrender and acceptance.
The results showed that facing the diagnosis of brain death for relatives and family members is a condition surrounded by many challenges, ambiguities and conflicts that is become more complicated when emotional responses related to grieving and defensive psychological reactions emerge. So it is recommended before any organ request, at first medical team provide conditions for brain death acceptance. Respecting family members experiences and their perceptions about the situation will resolve their internal ambiguities and conflicts. At this situation requesting organ donation seems to be rational.
Maryam Modabber, Mojtaba Parsa, Shiva Khaleghparast,
Volume 17, Issue 1 (3-2024)
Abstract
In the current era, the alarming increase in the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease has led to greater attention to issues related to care and alternative decision-making for this special group in society. The four ethical principles of "beneficence", "non-maleficence", "respect for autonomy", and "justice" serve as fundamental guidelines in medical decision-making. This study presents a case report of an elderly Alzheimer's patient and the ethical issues related to medical decision-making in the absence of a substitute decision-maker. Typically, for individuals lacking decision-making capacity, decisions are made by a substitute decision-maker and, in some countries, an advance care directive. In the absence of these, the medical team may make decisions in the best interest of the patient, considering the individual's cultural and social conditions, while taking into account the aforementioned ethical principles.
