Theories of Ethics and Medical Practice

There is much popular and professional confusion over ethics. It is important at once to realize that "ethics" is not a single agreed-upon system of moral conduct, but rather that there are many ethics and many theories of how it is best to behave. In medical practice, the confusion is heightened by the frequent tendency to think of etiquette as ethics.

Social and Professional Control of Medicine  Current technical advance in biomedical endeavor, such as organ transplantation and fertility control, has brought a bewildering shift in our understanding of moral problems associated with medical practice. No longer are there solid and immutable absolutes for our comfort. We are increasingly facing the necessity of making wise judgments promptly on the spot, on the basis of as many of the factors in the immediate situation as we can recognize and with as full an understanding as possible of the consequences of our