Zobowiązania etyczne lekarza wobec społeczeństwa w świetle zapisów Kodeksu etyki lekarskiej i niektórych propozycji ich zmiany
Physician’s ethical commitment to society in view of the Medical Code of Ethics, and to certain suggestions of its modification

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on an analysis of physician’s ethical commitment to society, stemming from the binding Medical Code of Ethics, as well as of suggestions concerning modification of its certain provisions, particularly the so called Conscience Clause. A comparison of the commitment discussed, contained in the Code, with corresponding declarations in the respective Professional Codes of Ethics for Nurses and Midwives, Pharmacists and Laboratory Diagnosticians – indicates that such commitment differs in the particular medical professions, both in its nature and its scope. The authors surmised that the fundamental prerequisite of putting the Code’s directives in practice was their intelligibility and consistency of its particular norms. It was, therefore, judged that the proposed conscience clause might indeed negate the very Medical Code of Ethics provisions. The authors pointed to other serious flaws in the Code, such as a relative failure to prioritise the pertinent provisions, as well as a certain measure of incoherence and ambiguity of some of them. They concluded, among other things, that the Medical Code of Ethics was instrumental in shaping ethical attitudes among physicians. Still, its provisions require constant refinement. Crucially, the Code does not need, of necessity, to clash with neither the State Law nor with human conscience.

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