Although the subject is important, the article had little to do with ethics. The two cases at the beginning of the editorial were examples of poor communication skills, insensitivity, and bad manners, not unethical behaviour.
Ethics pertains to benevolence, non-malevolence, autonomy, and justice.
If the consultant oncologist told his patient that all was well, when he really suspected recurrence of breast cancer, perhaps that would be unethical. But telling her that he feels a suspicious lump, then does not acknowledge her tears and distress, while outrageous behaviour, is not unethical. Ethics is a word which is thrown around a lot these days, but I think that many doctors and certainly most medical students do not really understand what it means. This is largely because of the lack of formal teaching about ethics in the medical curriculum. I spent a year at the Institute for the Medical humanities in galveston, Texas, where I read much of the literature surrounding some of the major ethical debates-for example, abortion and organ transplantation.