Professional Ethics, Law, and Regulation
Ethical foundations
Ethics questions test the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice, applied to traditional practice. Know the duties of informed consent, confidentiality, competence, and honesty about the limits of evidence. A practitioner must not claim to cure conditions beyond their competence, must refer when necessary, and must not exploit patients' beliefs for financial gain.
Legal and regulatory framework
Understand the role of licensing and registration of practitioners, regulation of traditional medicine products, prescription and dispensing rules, record-keeping, and reporting obligations. Know the concepts of scope of practice, professional boundaries, consent for minors and incapacitated adults, and the requirement to maintain accurate patient records. Advertising and health claims are typically restricted; unsubstantiated cure claims are a disciplinary matter.
Traps
- Assuming traditional practice is unregulated and therefore free of legal duties.
- Confusing confidentiality with the duty to report certain public-health matters.
- Overstepping scope of practice by managing conditions requiring referral.
Rule of thumb
Use the four-principle filter: does the action respect autonomy, do good, avoid harm, and treat the patient fairly? If any answer fails one principle, it is usually wrong.
Worked example: A patient asks for a guaranteed cure for a chronic disease. The ethical response is honest disclosure of limits, discussion of realistic goals, and referral where indicated - not a promise of cure, which breaches honesty and non-maleficence.