The ethics is linked to the moral and establishes what is good, bad, permitted or desired respect to an action or decision. The concept comes from the Greek ethikos, which means “character”. Ethics can be defined as the science of moral behavior, since it studies and determines how the members of a society should act.
A code, for its part, is a combination of signs that has a certain value within an established system. In law, the set of rules that regulate a given matter is known as a code.
According to abbreviationfinder, a code of ethics, therefore, sets standards that regulate the behavior of people within a company or organization. Although ethics is not coercive (it does not impose legal penalties), the code of ethics supposes an internal regulation of mandatory compliance.
Do not disclose confidential information, do not discriminate against clients or co-workers on the basis of race, nationality or religion and do not accept bribes, for example, are some of the postulates that are usually included in the codes of ethics.
Standards mentioned in codes of ethics can be linked to legal standards (for example, discrimination is a crime punishable by law). The main objective of these codes is to maintain a uniform line of behavior among all the members of a company. By including written instructions, it is not necessary for a manager to explain at all times what are the obligations that an employee has.
On the other hand, those people who write the code of ethics are in a hierarchical position over the rest, since they are in a position to stipulate what are the correct behaviors from a moral point of view.
Medicine and the code of ethics
As we have already expressed, the obligation of every professional is to manifest an impeccable conduct where ethics is their main objective. As it is a social service, it must be based on wanting the good for the community in which it operates.
The first to manifest a series of norms that should be met when carrying out any social task was Hippocrates, when medicine did not yet exist as such. It was he who set the ethical guidelines that would later manifest as fundamental for the practice of medicine anywhere on the planet. In any case, it was not until 1979 that the ethical and moral principles that every professional should manifest were described within the medical circle. This treatise was called de Ballantine and was published in 1979.
In the medical career there are a series of subjects whose importance is to instill in future doctors ideas of the common good and above all, a critical and balanced spirit, to know how to always act in pursuit of the common good and the quality of life of their patients. In this training, the individual is instilled with the criteria he needs to make the best decisions, within the scope of his profession.
A doctor without ethics will be a professional who will put money and fame before the good of patients and this will mean a moral disorder in the actions of the individual and a serious risk for the community he attends.
Unfortunately, throughout history, medicine has derailed from its first purpose: to help people improve their quality of life and has become an instrument of manipulation for various ideologies; This has led many people to disbelieve in medicine and it has become a legal business. Despite this, it is important to point out the importance of recovering the true meaning that this science had in its origins.
