ABSTRACT
Ethical codes have been a formal part of medical practice for most of recorded history. Hippocrates famously opined that the care of the patient for the good of the patient was the requirement of ethical medical practice (Porter, 1997). Later ethical codes have focused on the duty of the state to care for its members or to respect their autonomy. Ethical codes are ubiquitous in medical practice because the care of a patient by a physician is inherently a social phenomenon and, like any social interaction, must be regulated by ethical considerations.
