The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry: 2001 Edition/ Opinions of the Ethics Committee on The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry: 2001 Edition

From our regular book review column.

In May 1847, at the Second National Medical Convention, not only was the American Medical Association (AMA) formally begun, but, as one of this new body’s first actions, it adopted a formal Code of Ethics. That Code (which is easily accessible via the AMA Web site) consisted of a 9-page introduction followed by a 14-page document divided into 3 chapters, 11 articles, and 50 sections. This format remained virtually unchanged over the ensuing 100 years until, in 1957, to make the Code a more useful reference document for guiding the medical profession, the AMA transformed it into its current format of a brief preamble followed by a list of essential principles (in 1957, there were 10 such principles; in 1980, the number was reduced to 7; in 2001, the number was increased to 9).