Codes of professional conduct for Australian Defence Force military physicians: evenomating the serpent?

The scandal of health professionals' involvement in recent human rights abuses in United States military detention centres has prompted concern that Australian military physicians should be well protected against similar pressures to participate in harsh interrogations. A framework of military health ethics has been proposed. Would a code of professional conduct be a partial solution? This article examines the utility of professional codes: can they transform unethical behaviour or are they only of value to those who already behave ethically? How should such codes be designed, what support mechanisms should be in place and how should complaints be managed? A key recommendation is that codes of professional conduct should be accompanied by publicly transparent procedures for the investigation of serious infractions and appropriate disciplinary action when proven. The training of military physicians should also aim to develop a sound understanding of both humanitarian and human rights law. At present, both civil and military education of physicians generally lacks any component of human rights law. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) seems well placed to add codes of professional conduct to its existing ethical framework because of strong support at the highest executive levels.     

‘You're Just Treating Us as Informants!’ Roles,Responsibilities and Relationships in the Production of Children's Services Directories

Local authorities in England are required to make directories of services available to practitioners working with children and young people. This is against a background of continuing reforms intended to ensure that services are joined-up around the needs and choices of children, young people and their families. There are high expectations that more of these services will be delivered by organisations from theVoluntary and Community Sector (VCS), especially services for groups or communities that public sector agencies find hard to engage. This article reports and comments upon a regional study focusing on the production of children's service directories involving service providers and commissioners, as well as the producers of directories, in a series of facilitated workshop activities. The study highlights tensions between local authorities and service providers around how information about services is controlled, edited and accessed. We argue that current approaches to the provision ofdirectories are unlikely to have the transformational effects predicted by policy makers. This is partly because local authorities' traditional position (supported by the prevailing technologies) has meant that they have tended to monopolise the roles and responsibilities which in turn maintains their control of directory content. They do so in the face of increasing dissent from new and established providers. Moreover, current models of service directories fail to meet the emerging information needs of a range ofstakeholders including service providers, service commissioners and service users. Inconclusion we propose some questions to improve visibility and governance in the creation and maintenance of service directories.