Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-08-26
sa~ie Published BY Req9est.
Code Of Ethics Of the American Medical As.
sociatien. Adopted May IS47.

CHAPTER I. -
/ Ofthe duties Of Physicians to their patients and
Of the obligations Of patients to their physicians
ARTICLE 1.-Duties Of physicians to their pa
tients-S !. Aphysician should not only be
ever ready to obey the calls of the sick, but his
mind ought also to be imbued with the great
ness of his mission and the responsibility he ha-
bitually incurs in its discharge. Those obliga-
tons are the more deep and enduring, be-
cause therefs no tribunal other than his own
conscience to adjudge penalties for carelessness
or neglect. Physicians should, therefore, min
lister to the sick with due impressions of the i'm
portance Of their office rejecting that the ease,
the health, and the lives of those committed TO
their charge, depend on their skill, attention
and fidelity. They should study, also, in their
department to unite tenderness with .5Srmnsss,
and coudescension with authority so as to inspire
the minds of their patients with gratitude, res
pect and confidence.
81 Every case committed to the charge of
physician should be treated with attention,
steadiness, and humanity. Reasonable indul-
gence should be granted to the mental imbecili.
ty and caprices Of the sick. Secrecy and delica-
cy, when required by peculiar circumstances,
should be strictly observed and the familiar and
confidential intercourse to which physicians are
admitted in their professional visits, should be
used with discretion, and with the most scrupu-
ous regard to fidelity and honor The obliga-
ton of secrecy extends beyond the period Of
professional services none of the priyacies Of
personal and domestic life, or no intirmity of
disposition or flaw of character observed during
professional attendance, should ever be divulg-
ed by him except when he is imperatiyely re-
quired to do so. The force and necessity of this
obligation are indeed so great, that professional
men have, under certain circumstances, been
protected in their observance of secrecy by courts
OF justice.
SO. Frequent visits to the sick ore in gene
raj requisite, since they enable the physician to
arrive at more perfect knowledge of the dis
ease, to meet promptly every change which may
occur, and also tend to preserve the confidence
of the patient But unnecessary visits are to
be avoided, as they give useless anxiety to the
patient, tend to diminish the authority Of the
physician, and render him liable to be suspected
of interested motives.
"a. A physician should not be forward to
make gloomy representations, because they sa-
your of empiricism, by magnifyiDg the impor-
tance of his services in the treatment or cure Of
the disease. But he should not fail, on proper
occasions, to give to the friends of the patient
timely notice of danger when it really occurs;
and even to the patient himself, when absolute
ly necessary. This Office, however, is so pecu-
liarly alarming when executed by him, that it
ought to be declined whenever it can be assign
ed to any other person of sufficient Judgment
and delcacy. For, the physician should be the
minister of hope and comfort to the sick that,
by such cordals to the dropping spirit, he may
smooth the bed Of death, revive expiring life,
and counteract the depressing influence OF those
malades which often disturb the tranquility of
the most resigned in their last moments. The
life of a sick person can be shortened not only
by the acts, but also by the words of the physi-
clan. 1t is, therefore, sacred duty to guard
himself carefully in this respect, and to avoid all
things which have tendency to discourage the
patient and to depress his spirits.
s5. A physician ought not to abandon pa
tient because the case is deemed incurable; for
his attendance may continue to be highly useful
to the patient, and comforting to the relatives
around him, even in the last period Of a fatal
malady, by alleviating pain and other symptoms
and by soothing mental anguish. To decline
attendance, under such circumstances, would be
sacrificing to fanciful delicacy and mistaken lib
erality, that moral duty, which is independent
of, and far superior to all pecuniary considera-
ton.
SO. Consultations should be promoted in
difficult or protracted cases, as they give rise to
confidence, energy, and more enlarged views in
practice.
81. The opportunity which physician not
untrequently enjoys of promoting and strength
ening the good resolutions of his patients, suffer-
ing under the consequences of vicious conduct
ought never to be neglected. His councils or
even rernonstrances, will give satisfaction, not
offence, if they be proffered with poiteness, and
evince a genuine love of virtue, accompanied by
sincere interest in the welfare of the person to
whom they are addressed.
Continued IN nert paper)