A curriculum in medical ethics and medical humanities.

MEDICINE has evolved over the centuries moving from sorcerer to priest and ultimately to the physician. During this time it has gradually developed its own code of conduct: However, it was Hippocrates of Cos, who in the fifth century B.C., apparently recognizing that greater guidance was necessary, proceeded to develop our first code of ethics (Nordlicht, 1977). Physicians are, in this tradition, represented as learned and noble men, members of a select brotherhood, which is largely self-regulating and autonomous. Hippocratic physicians assume responsibility as set forth in the Oath "not to harm patients, not to induce abortion, not to practise euthanasia, to preserve confidentiality, and to take a paternal interest in their students as the future members of a select group" (Pellegrino, 1977).