RT Journal
A1 ECCLES RG
T1 DO we obey the code of ethics.
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1899
FD December 30
VO XXXIII
IS 27
SP 1646
OP 1648
DO 10.1001/jama.1899.92450790010001e
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1899.92450790010001e
AB The laws of ethics are as firmly fixed in the nature of things as are the laws of astronomy or of chemistry. Disobedience to their mandates is as certain to bring disaster to those who disobey as disregard of the law of gravity brings pain and suffering to those who try to walk over a precipice. Every true law of ethics is fundamentally fixed in the make-up of society and is in no sense a mere empiric order of things without adequate reason. Whenever we disobey such a law we do so at our peril. Good conduct is conduct that comports itself in such a way as to lead to the highest social good. It is conduct that harmonizes with the best interests of society. When certain lines of conduct are interdicted by our fellows we may be quite sure that it is now, or at