Medical Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

Abstract

Medical ethics, which are professional ethics to be observed in the performance of duties, are imposed on persons involved in medical care and medical professionals. The contents of medical ethics differ according to the time and place, and medical professionals may have different ideas. Medical ethics can be traced back to the Hippocratic Oath and have since been put into words as a wide variety of international codes of ethics, declarations, and laws and regulations.

In their provision of medical care, medical professionals need to constantly learn about medical ethics as they change with the times. Moreover, medical professionals often conduct medical research in addition to medical treatment; therefore, it is necessary to conduct research in compliance with research ethics. In recent years, funding from companies has become a requisite for medical research, creating a need to manage conflicts of interest.

In this paper, I discuss the medical ethics, research ethics, and conflicts of interest imposed on medical professionals, as well as how they are realized in daily and medical research practice.