Introduction

In October 2016, Medicine for the first time published an issue dedicated to ‘Ethics and Communication Skills’. In doing so, it was recognizing the increasing importance of ethics and communication in the daily practice of medicine. Something more was required beyond a belief that doctors could get by on ‘common sense’ or copying the beliefs or decision-making processes of others – if it was even possible to discern those in the first place. Looking back on that issue, it represented a selection of subjects some of which were part of the staple fare of medical ethics (e.g.