Gifts with multiple edges
Bashir H. Mamdani, Meenal Mamdani · Indian Journal of Medical Ethics · 2006
The giving of gifts is an ancient and ubiquitous human activity.However, when a patient gives the gift to her/his doctor, ethical considerations may arise.The author begins the article with the story of an elderly man who walks into the emergency department of a hospital in severe pain.The doctor on call treats him, promptly and kindly.A few days later the patient gives the doctor an expensive bottle of champagne.The author attempts to analyse what the patient may have wanted to convey to the doctor through this gift.It could mean a simple thank you for being there and for providing relief.Maybe the patient wanted to remind the doctor that he was not just an old man and that he had had a profitable career once when he handled such expensive wines.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a gift is "something, the possession of which is transferred to another without the expectation of receipt of an equivalent."Alternative definitions say a gift can be "a fee for services rendered" or "something given with a corrupting intention; a bribe."The author says that doctors receiving gifts from patients must ask if any gift should be accepted.If the answer is "yes", they must ask if this particular gift can be accepted.