Dr Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki1,2
1Monash Bioethics Center, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 2Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, 3Ethics & Governance Unit, World Health Organization, Science Division, Geneva, Switzerland
Biography:
Dr. Ehsan Shamsi Gooshki is a certified physician (M.D.) and a bioethicist (Ph.D.). For 15 years, he has been actively involved in teaching various undergraduate and post-graduate educational programs and conducting extensive research in diverse fields of bioethics, including research ethics, clinical ethics, public health ethics, and bioethics governance.
He has assumed pivotal roles such as Associate Professor of Medical Ethics at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Secretary of the National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research, Senior Advisor and Secretary of the Medical Ethics Committee at Iran Medical Council, and Secretary of the Medical Ethics Group at the Iran Academy of Medical Sciences. During this tenure, he played a crucial role in establishing national systems of research ethics, clinical ethics, professional ethics, and public health ethics. Additionally, he spearheaded the development of the Iran Medical Council Code of Ethics and The Iran Healthcare Professionals’ Charter of Rights.
Dr. Shamsi’s engagement with the international arena of bioethics commenced at the Department of Health Ethics and Governance at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva in 2010, followed by fellowships at the University of Zurich and the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Since 2018, he has been appointed by the UNESCO Director-General as a member of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC), assuming the Vice-chair position in 2023.
Currently, Dr. Shamsi serves as a consultant and lead writer of WHO clinical ethics guidance and holds the esteemed position of Vice-chair of the WHO Ethics Review Committee (ERC), of which he has been a member since 2021. In 2023, Dr. Shamsi started a new role as a lecturer at the Monash University Bioethics Centre. He has authored numerous research articles, including contributions to leading journals such as The Lancet and Nature Medicine, and has supervised dozens of theses in bioethics.
Abstract:
Clinical ethics is a practical discipline that provides a structured approach to assist health professionals in identifying, analyzing, and resolving ethical issues that arise in clinical practice. In the last decade, the area of clinical ethics has gained significant prominence within the field of health ethics from a global perspective. In particular, COVID-19 has raised many clinical ethics issues, ranging from rationing at the bedside to providing unproven therapies. So far, while WHO’s ethics guidance occasionally addresses specific clinical ethics issues, there is a lack of comprehensive, general WHO guidance on clinical ethics.
WHO clinical ethics guidance is currently in the development process by an international working group consisting of 25 internationally recognized experts, as well as some experts from within WHO and observers from influential organizations in the field, including the World Medical Association (WMA), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and the World Patients Alliance. While the guidance targets a wide range of stakeholders, its main audience will be governing bodies at the national and international levels, including WHO Member States, health policymakers, and international organizations.
In addition to an introductory section on rationale and background, the present structure of the guidance includes one explanatory and more descriptive part consisting of four sections: Clinical Ethics Education, Clinical Ethics Consultation & Support Services, Policy Development for Promoting Ethical Practice in Healthcare Delivery, and International Coordination, Cooperation, and Governance. This is followed by a more prescriptive and normative part which introduces some recommendations for a range of target audiences. The annex will provide a list of definitions of clinical ethics concepts endorsed by WHO.
This panel aims to introduce the updated content and structure of the guidance, followed by critical comments from three commentators and feedback from the audience.