The principles of doing “good” and not doing “harm” are the essence of every code of medical ethics. It is the duty of the medical doctors to their patients to exercise their professional skills in an ethical manner and to observe the laws of the community. The essential purpose is to ensure that patients’ trust in the medical
profession is deserved. This is achieved hy protecting patients and ensuring that they are able to obtain the maximum benefits available from medicine. At the same time, medical ethics aim to protect patients from the abuse that can occur when one person is in a position of power (in this case, based on superior medical knowledge and, often, status) vis-a-vis another.
Medical ethics are generally considered to be derived from the teachings of the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 BC), commonly known as the Father of Medicine. The ethical principles he taught survive today in the form of an oath (the Hippocratic Oath) traditionally (if not actually) taken by those entering medical practice. While the exact wording has changed to reflect more modern thinking and practice, the essential principle remains the same: the patient’s interests are paramount. Codes of ethics have been enriched by the influence of religion and culture. Arabic and Islamic oaths have been developed and are used in medical schools in most of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
The best known modern version is the Declaration of Geneva, adopted by the World Medical Association (WMA) in 1948 and subsequently amended in 1968, 1983 and 1994 (see Annex 1). The International Code of Medical Ethics of the World Medical Association—1949 was adopted by the WMA at London in October 1949 and has been used as the basis for various codes of ethical practice adopted by different national medical associations (see Annex ?,)
In recent times, as an aid to decision-making in medicine and as a starting point for discussions on medical ethics, four principles have been generally agreed...
