medical ethics

Moral guidelines for doctors governing good professional conduct. The basic aims are considered to be doing good, avoiding harm, preserving the patient's autonomy, telling the truth, and pursuing justice. Ethical issues provoke the most discussion in medicine where these five aims cannot be simultaneously achieved - for example, what is ‘good’ for a child may clash with his or her autonomy or that of the parents.

Traditionally these principles were set out in the Hippocratic Oath (introduced by Greek physician Hippocrates and including such injunctions as the command to preserve confidentiality, to help the sick to the best of one's ability, and to refuse fatal draughts); but, from the late 20th century, rapidly advancing medical technology raised many questions about how far medicine should intervene in natural processes.

Limited resources may also confront doctors with difficult questions about which patients to select for treatment, or how far to continue treatment in the preservation of life. The right to voluntary euthanasia is a hugely controversial issue of medical ethics.