Question

Why is there moral tension in the concept of the physician-scientist?

Answer 1

A physician scientist is a medicine and science graduate. The moral tension here is that, this professional spends significant time and professional effort in scientific research and invests less time in direct clinical practice compared to other physicians.

Over the years the respect earned by the physicians have come down and today they are considered more as a health service provider. The medical trend now is not on individual patients but on large scale clinical trials which are evidence based. Today, physicians need to be careful with their changing relationship with patients while conducting clinical research.

Therefore the main moral tension arises with the physician scientist - an investigator as clinician versus an investigator as a scientist.