![]() ![]() The most recent content analysis of US medical school oaths in 2000 by Kao and Parsi found, in descending order, the following core principles and norms: Confidentiality (in 91.5%), Fidelity to the patient (in 81.6%), Beneficence (in 60.3%, including avoiding conflicts of interest, e.g., “bias or prejudice” in 30.5%), Justice (“furthering a just society” in 19.1%), Non-Maleficence (in 18.4%), and patient Autonomy (in just 7.8%) 4.Īnother 2004 study by Berkman et al. analyzed uses of the Hippocratic oath in US and Canadian medical schools in 1993, finding that one core principle and 2 core behavioral norms remained central to most modern oaths (Justice in 71%, Fidelity in 100%, and Confidentiality in 97%) 3. In addition, respect for patients' Autonomy was included in “few oaths,” and Veracity was not evident in any. ![]() studied oaths administered by accredited medical schools in 1989, finding that while Confidentiality was addressed by 75% of the oaths, Beneficence, Non-Maleficence, and Justice were each addressed by only 50% 2. These generally conform with Beauchamp and Childress's framework but have an uneven focus on core principles and norms. Ī brief review of the recent biomedical, library, and information sciences literatureĪ few recent studies have analyzed oaths taken by students graduating from schools of medicine. The best ethical codes also address professional obligations of importance to patients, clients, and society, rather than just those that protect the authority, traditions, judgments, or reputation of the profession itself. Beauchamp and Childress argue that the most useful codes are based on coherent, defensible, and comprehensive moral principles and behavioral norms grounded in these principles. However, some professional codes focus on nonmorally obligatory ideals, such as self-effacement, that are simply rules of etiquette. Thus, professions have formulated codes of ethics to define and reinforce the particular ethical norms and values of their profession. Health care and other biomedical professions have a legitimate need to specify (that is, to codify these abstract moral principles or behavioral norms into statements with “action-guiding content” ) and to clarify the profession's ethical obligations and assure persons entering into relationships with individuals in these professions that they will be ethically competent and trustworthy. These principles and norms are often not enough, by themselves, to guide ethical practice in specific situations. ![]()
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