Code of ethics of the American Medical Association.

  • American Medical Association.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Code of ethics of the American Medical Association. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    AMERICAN CODE OF MEDICAL ETHICS. If) § 2. There is no profession, from the members of which greater purity of character and a higher standard of moral excellence are required, than the medical; and to attain such eminence, is a duty every physician owes alike to his profession and to his patients. It is due to the latter, as without it he cannot command their respect and confidence ; and to both, because no scientific at- tainments can compensate for the want of correct moral principles. It is also incumbent upon the faculty to be temperate in all things'1; for the practice of physic requires the unremitting exer- cise of a clear and vigorous understanding : and on emergencies, for which no professional man should be unprepared, a steady hand, an acute eye, and an unclouded head may be essential to the well-being, and even to the life, of a fellow-creature. § 3. It is derogatory to the dignity of the pro- fession, to resort to public advertisements, or pri- vate cards or handbills, inviting the attention of individuals affected with particular diseases, pub- licly offering advice and medicine to the poor gratis, or promising radical cures ; or to publish cases and operations in the daily prints, or suffer such publications to be made ; to invite laymen to be present at operations; to boast of cures and reme- dies; to adduce certificates of skill and success, h [See Percival'a Medical Ethics, ch. ii. § 2.]