Rev Bras Oftalmol.2013;72(6):359-360
The influence of ethics and good judgment on the controversies of medicine
DOI: 10.1590/S0034-72802013000600001
Ethics is the set of principles that guide human behavior in society. Medical ethics is a subject that evaluates intellectual worth and risks in the activities of medicine. Or better, it is a set of rules that defines limits in the relationship of doctors and their pairs, because medical practice involves much more than only technical aspects shown in other professions. Yet, medical ethics would be the rules that prevent the doctor from deliberately take advantage of his special condition just to put the vulnerable patient’s health at risk. However, in practice, the core of Medical Ethics Code is surpassed, for its principles do not follow the socio-cultural changes of the last decades. Today in personal relations, the absolute antagonism of what is or is not ethical is not enough to guide adequate behaviors, because in most situations right and wrong can be relative and depend on different points-of-view. In that case, characterization of anti-ethical behavior would be reserved only for an extreme and unquestionable situation. As a result, in order to prevent doctors to once in a while put the patient’s health at risk it would be necessary much more than only the rules of the Medical Ethics Code […].