Ethic Codes in Medicine: Foundations and Achievements of Codification Since 1947

This text presents the results of two European/American preparatory workshops for the First World Conference on Ethics Codes in Medicine and Biotechnology. Its aim is to stimulate research about codes and the effects of codification and other forms of implementing ethics. It emphasizes the need for a complete collection of codes for systematic research and evaluation. The topics covered in the text include ethics in transplantation medicine, ethics teaching in medical education, euthanasia, codes of ethics, moral values and legal norms in different contexts, ethical codes and guidelines in psychiatry, predictive genetics, use of the Hippocratic oath, cloning, medical experiments in Nazi concentration camps, the Nuremburg Code and the Genome Project.

Table of Contents:
Part 1 Ethics codes in medicine - historical, legal and philosophical aspects: the invention of Hippocrates - oath, letters and Corpus Hippocraticum, K.H. Leven; Science, myths and medicine before 1947, A.M. Moulin; ethical conduct and ethical "norms" up to 1947, E. Lepicard; the Nuremberg Code in light of previous principles and practices in human experimentation, D.J. Rothman; the medical experiments in Nazi concentration camps, B. Kanovitch; the Nuremberg Code - the proceedings of the medical trial, the ten principles of Nuremberg and the lasting effect of the Nuremberg Code, E. Deutsch; the Nuremberg Code - rules of public international law, D. Sprumont, P. Arnold; the disturbed equilibrium between science, myths and medicine - towards a new rationalism? M. de Wachter; scientific progress in socio-cultural context - natural science, medicine and myth after Nuremberg, D.v. Emgelhardt; crimes against humanity - the forgotten history of Japan, R. Kimura; the inclusion of the ten principles of Nuremberg in professional codes of ethics - an international comparison, G. Herranz; the Nuremberg Code turns fifty, W. Winslade, T. L. Krause; ethical "norms" and the law - legitimacy of "experts" and democratic legitimacy - reflections based on the French example, B. Mathieu; the interrelationship between ethics codes and the law - "legitimacy" seen from the British point of view, P. Honingman; the Genome project - legal and ethical thoughts for coping with problems to come, J. Levi, M. Plantholz. Part 2 The paradigm shift in medical ethics - patient's rights, education, institutions: the paradigm shift in health care and the patient - physician relationship from an American perspective, R. Carson; means and ways for the protection of patients in France, J. Michaud; the paradigm shift in health care and the patient-health professional relationship, S. Horner; paradigm changes in health systems and relations between patients and (para)medical profession in Italy, A. Spagnolo; the recognition of patients' rights, especially of the mentally ill, at the level of international organizations in the jurisprudence of the European Convention on human rights, T. Douraki; answers to change -the problem of paradigm shift in medical ethics from the German perspective, S. Reiter-Theil. Part 3 Ethics and medicine for the 21st century - the quest for new codes: looking for new codes in the field of predictive medicine, L. Archer; allocation of limited resources and equity, G. Hermeren; the equitable allocation of limited resources, J.F. Mattei et al; transcultural medical ethics and human rights, R. Baker; medical ethics and human rights in South America, H. Riquelme. Appendix: the Nuremberg Code.