ABSTRACT
The relations between doctors and patients are changing, and the medical profession must continue to keep its own house in order if it is not to have stricter controls and directives imposed on it. The medical profession everywhere should seek to regulate itself to maintain high standards of care, conduct and behaviour, and must be prepared to take action against those who do not meet them. In Hong Kong, the laws concerning medicine are governed by the Medical Registration Ordinance, Chapter 161, Laws of Hong Kong, and the Medical Practitioners Regulations. Ethics can be defined as the study of human actions: whether they are right or wrong, good or bad, worth doing or worth preventing. Medical ethics is neither self sufficient nor entirely dependent on the national laws. It has to be considered as the Declaration of Geneva itself indicates that doctors should pledge not to use his medical knowledge 'contrary to the laws of humanity, even under threat'.
