医療専門職の職業実践活動における倫理綱領の意義と限界を探る。モデルとなったアメリカ医師会をはじめとする医療専門職団体の倫理綱領の変遷をたどることによって, 倫理綱領が時代の文化的・社会的変化を反映するものであると同時に, 専門職団体の結束の精神を普遍的な倫理に基礎付けようとする努力の表現であることが判明する。

This paper presents the significance and limitations of codes of ethics published by specific organizations of health care professionals. Professional codes of ethics are meant to provide guidelines for the ethical conducts of the members of the respective organizations. The codes are usually based on ethical principles that reflect the common morality of the time they are written in and center around the patient's rights for unbiased treatment. They also are manifestos to the society stating the purposes and duties of each specific professional organization. They may not be legally binding, but the members are held morally accountable for their violations. When we look into the birth and the revisions of the code of ethics of the American Medical Association, we realize that the ethics code can and should reflect the changing aspects of contemporary culture, and some efforts to resolve serious dilemmas arising in medical encounters should be made. This paper includes some suggestions to help improve the on-going changes in codes of ethics of Japanese health-related professional organizations.

国立情報学研究所で電子化