Ethics and Moral Principles in the Practice of Medicine

Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that applies morality and value judgments to the practice of medicine. Just like any other branch of ethics, there can be no universal code of value judgments because these depend on cultures and cultures differ in practice of daily life. What may be judged as common practice in one culture may be considered totally unethical in another. For instance, widow remarriage is part of the Christian and Islamic cultures from the very beginning but was forbidden and considered unethical as well as illegal leading to ostracization in the Hindu culture till the British brought their own (Christian) culture to prevail in India. However, certain tenets of ethics are applicable across the board even though there may be deviant groups who believe in just the opposite, and among them, one of the most important is the sanctity of life. Medical ethics encompasses the sanctity of life and all that goes with it.