MEDICAL ETHICS

Medical ethics - will it continue to exist?

LH Becker

BChD (Pret) HDip Dent (Rand) MChD (Pret) FCD (SA), Professor Emeritus, Dept of Restorative Dentistry, University of Pretoria. Former President of SAMDC; former Member of HPCSA; former Chair Medical and Dental Professions Board

Correspondence

ABSTRACT

Professional ethics and the profession of medicine have been closely linked through the centuries and many examples exist of guidelines having been developed early in the history of the profession by the profession, the best known of which is the Hippocratic Oath. There are many others, a few examples of which are The Prayer of Moses Ben Maimon, The Oath of Asaph and Yohanan and The Seventeen Rules of Enjuin. The common themes in all of these are the recognition of a God, keeping own needs subservient to that of the patient, confidentiality and a prohibition on performing and causing abortions.

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