Author: Isabaeva Madina
The path of any science is complex, and medicine - especially. After all, it, like no other field of knowledge, affects the life of people. Often, medical discoveries not only successfully cure specific patients, but also affect the worldview of society as a whole. Under public pressure, doctors already in the XX century. began with particular rigor to approach the introduction of new drugs into medical practice. As a result, laws of “medical evidence” appeared, which doctors around the world are now following. The increase in the value of human life has influenced modern medical ethics, and led to the legislative consolidation of the rights of the patient. In this regard, this article attempts to present the essence of the ethics of medical activity to readers, which involves consideration of the principles and stages of its formation.
Medical ethics is a combination of ethical standards and principles of behavior of medical workers in the performance of their professional duties. The first progressive concepts of medical ethics, which have come down to us from the depths of centuries, are recorded in the ancient Indian book “Ayurveda” (“Knowledge of Life”, “Life Science”), in which, along with consideration of the problems of goodness and justice, instructions are given to the doctor to be compassionate, benevolent, fair, patient, calm and never lose your temper. The duty of a doctor is to constantly care for improving people's health. The medical worker must defend the life and health of the patient, at the cost of his life. Medical ethics was greatly developed in ancient Greece and is clearly represented in the oath of Hippocrates.
Hippocratic ethics is a system of moral and ethical commandments, requirements, prohibitions that regulate the practice of healing, determining the doctor’s attitude to the patient, the doctor’s attitude to other doctors, as well as to his profession as a whole and the doctor’s attitude to society. It was directed against money-grubbers, charlatans, extortionists, seeking to cash in at the expense of a sick person. The Hippocratic oath had a great influence on the development of medical ethics in general. Subsequently, students graduating from medical schools signed the “faculty promise”, which was based on the moral commandments of Hippocrates.
In the Middle Ages, a significant contribution to the development of medical ethics was made by such scientists of the East as Avicenna and his work “Canon of Medicine” and Maimonides. Maimonides is known as the author of the work “The Prayer of the Doctor” - this is a kind of way for a doctor to gain that spiritual strength, moral strength, without which it is impossible to fulfill his noble work. In the Renaissance, the focus is on the question of what moral qualities a doctor should possess. The debate went around whether the qualities necessary for a good doctor are achieved in the process of academic training, or they are given through insight, through intuition and experience, or come, as they say, from God. The last point of view was held by the greatest physician of the Renaissance Paracelsus: "A doctor grows from the heart, he comes from God, and the highest degree of healing is love." In the next century, the idea of an experimental study of nature became the most authoritative philosophical guide of all European modern science. A striking representative of this period is F. Bacon, the author of the fundamental work “Ethics or the science of morality”, in which he discusses the ethical issues of attitude to the incurable, dying patients.
The oath of a doctor is a moral obligation made before the state. During the time of Hippocrates, they swore before the gods: "I swear by Apollo Physician, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them to witness ...". In 1983, graduates of a nursing school in Michigan first made the “Oath of Florence Nightingale,” named after the founders of scientific nursing.
The code of ethics of doctors in Ancient Tibet, set forth in the treatise "Zhud-shi", advanced the traditions of the medical class, which required the observance of 6 conditions:
1) be capable of medical activity;
2) to be humane;
3) understand their responsibilities;
4) to be pleasant to patients and not to repel them with their circumvention;
5) be diligent;
6) be familiar with the sciences.
These requirements can be equally presented to a doctor and a nurse, and in the 21st century they are just as significant as 2000-3000 years ago. The words of Hippocrates that “many calls themselves doctors, but few are in reality, remain true. The best doctors are those who do less harm.”
Summing up, we cannot deny the need for specialization in modern medicine. It determines a high level of qualified medical care, ensures the accuracy of diagnosis, the effectiveness of treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation. At the same time, if appropriate measures are not taken, it can cause negative phenomena, lead to a loss of continuity in treatment, an individual approach to each patient, and confuse the doctor, nurse, and patient in the complex maze of modern medicine. The essence of the contract model of the relationship between the patient and the medical worker is clear from the name. They conclude a contract between themselves, a contract, an agreement that defines the framework of their relationship. The moral side of the contract is not reflected, but it is easy to guess that a specialist who combines high professionalism with careful observance of the norms and rules of medical ethics enjoys great success among patients.
