Ethics in primary care: theory and practice

"Writing prescriptions is easy, but otherwise coming to an understanding with people is hard." Kafka, K. In: 'A country doctor' (translated Bamforth, 1999). The study of medical ethics has been a part of medicine since ancient times. Ethics is a term for various ways of understanding, examining and deciding what is a good moral life. Medical ethics (or bioethics in North America and other countries) is the study of ethics applied to medicine. This article will describe ethical principles, approaches and theories, how they may be used in the assessment process of nMRCGP and their relevance to the world of decision making in primary care.