The development of ethical guidance for medical practitioners by the General Medical Council.

INTRODUCTION In 1858, legislation was enacted in Britain which created a statutory body entitled the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom.' This title, which was subsequently described by Viscount Addison in the House of Lords as "a cumbersome name" the initials ofwhich "have often befogged many of us in the past",2 and which was later abbreviated to General Medical Council3 or "GMC", contains reference to the two principal functions of the Council: on the one hand, the determination of whose name should be permitted to be placed upon the Medical Register, which it did by setting and monitoring educational standards for doctors; and, on the other hand, of whose name should be removed from the Register, which it did by holding judicial, disciplinary inquiries. In exercising both of these functions, the Council, by its constituent bodies and committees, indirectly became involved in the declaration of acceptable standards of professional conduct and medical ethics. At present, the Council has a legislative power to provide advice to members of the profession on standards of professional conduct and medical ethics4 and this function is undertaken principally by the Council's Committee on Standards of Professional Conduct and on Medical Ethics, the "Standards Committee". This Committee is directly involved in the preparation and revision of the guidance given to all registered medical practitioners in the form of a small, thirty-two page, blue-covered booklet entitled Professional conduct and discipline: fitness to practise.5