ABSTRACT
Medicine has always existed in human society, since illness and disease have always been among humanity’s greatest concerns. In the ancient world, those who were believed to have the power to cure illnesses were feared and respected (Coleman, 1985). Thus their professional behavior and personal morals was as important as their healing capabilities. The earliest known regulation of the responsibilities and duties of medical practice can be found in the Code of Hammurabi, written some 5000 years ago, which details certain of the social and legal rules a healer should follow in his medical practice (Porter, 1997, pp. 45-46). Still, Hippocrates is known as the father of medicine in the West especially given his influence on the social and moral aspects of the healing arts. During the 10th and 11th centuries, while scientific medicine was still developing, the social and ethical side of medicine was practiced in accordance with Ibn-i Sina’s interpretation of Hippocrates. After a long period in which the church exerted significant pressure in every sector of life, medicine began to be practiced in a liberated and modern way from the 17th-18th centuries onwards (Conrad, et al., 1995, pp. 371-476).
