[Ethics and the physician's practice].

Abstract

Although a doctor may not be continually aware of it, his medical activity is firmly rooted in the moral principles of the medical profession. Serious problems of medical ethics may arise anywhere at any time from a general practitioner's Cases - and may lead to difficult decisions. Consequently medical men have from the early days felt the need to commit their ways of thinking and acting to a code of laws, which they can consult whenever taking a difficult decision. The doctors' persistent efforts to find an unambiguous doctrine have been evident from the Hippocratic oath up to the "Guidelines concerning Assistance to the Dying" of the Swiss Academy of medical Sciences.