Bioethical aspects of ethnic prejudice

Abstract

It is assumed that considerable ethnic distance is an empirical manifestation of the ethnonationalistic political pattern still dominant in contemporary Serbian society. The results of our research of ethnic distance on a non-representative sample of Medical School students (University in Belgrade) confirm this assumption. We discuss a specific sample -future medical professionals who are a priori expected to be free from all kind of prejudice, while the physician-patient relation implies a complete and unreserved engagement of the medical professional, disregarding patient?s race, nation, religion, sex/gender, age etc. Nevertheless, the findings indicate considerable distance among students toward certain ethnic, national and racial groups. The authors point to the importance of bioethics in the education of future medical doctors since, among other things, bioethics reflects various dimensions of specific interaction/communication in the physician-patient relation. Finally, the authors emphasize the significance of bioethics in critical reflexion of a priori and unquestionable authority of the "white coat".