Psychiatry's contribution to medical ethics education

Two recent trends in medical education, the growth of interest in biomedical ethics and the examination of psychiatry's status in medicine, have important implications for psychiatry. Educators are needed to bring a clinical perspective to bear on ethics instruction, yet psychiatrists risk missing this opportunity. Psychiatrists are uniquely suited to contribute because of their expertise in three areas: an understanding of the affective, nonrational components in ethical thought and behavior, a developmental perspective regarding personal morality, and an appreciation of the rootedness of ethics in the social ethos. Problems with contemporary ethical models of informed consent illustrate the value of psychiatry's contribution.