VII. New York Medical Society [“New Code”], Code of Ethics, 1882
CODE OF MEDICAL ETHICS.
I. THE RELATIONS OF PHYSICIANS TO THE PUBLIC.
II. RULES GOVERNING CONSULTATIONS.
III. THE RELATIONS OF PHYSICIANS TO EACH OTHER.
I.—The relations of physicians to the public.
It is derogatory to the dignity and interests of the profession for physicians to resort to
public advertisements, private cards, or handbills, inviting the attention of individuals affected
with particular diseases, publicly offering advice and medicine to the poor without charge, or
promising radical cures; or to publish cases or operations in the daily prints, or to suffer such
publications to be made ; or through the medium of reporters or interviewers, or otherwise, to
permit their opinions on medical and surgical questions to appear in the newspapers; to invite
laymen to be present at operations; to boast of cures and remedies; to adduce certificates of skill
and success; or to perform other similar acts.
It is equally derogatory to professional character, and opposed to the interests of the
profession, for a physician to hold a patent for any surgical instrument or medicine, or to
prescribe a secret nostrum, whether the invention or discovery or exclusive property of himself
or of others.
It is also reprehensible for physicians to give certificates attesting the efficacy of patented
medical or surgical appliances, or of patented, copyrighted, or secret medicines, or of proprietary
drugs, medicines, wines, mineral waters, health resorts, etc.
II.—Rules governing consultations.
Members of the Medical Society of the State of New York, and of the medical societies
in affiliation therewith, may meet in consultation legally qualified practitioners of medicine.
Emergencies may occur in which all restrictions should, in the judgment of the practitioner, yield
to the demands of humanity.
To promote the interests of the medical profession and of the sick, the following rules
should be observed in conducting consultations,
The examination of the patient by the consulting physician should be made in the
presence of the attending physician, and during such examination no discussion should take
place, nor any remarks as to diagnosis or treatment be made. When the examination is
completed, the physicians should retire to a room by themselves, and after a statement by the
attending physician, of the history of the case and of his views of its diagnosis and treatment,
each of the consulting physicians, beginning with the youngest, should deliver his opinion. If
they arrive at an agreement, it will be the duty of the attending physician to announce the result
to the patient, or to some responsible member of the family, and to carry out the plan of
treatment agreed upon.
If in the consultation there is found to be an essential difference of opinion as to diagnosis
or treatment, the case should be presented to the patient, or some responsible member of the
family, as plainly and intelligently as possible, to make such choice, or pursue such course, as
may be thought best.
In case of acute, dangerous, or obscure illness, the consulting physician should continue
his visits at such intervals as may be deemed necessary by the patient or his friends, by him, or
by the attending physician.
The utmost punctuality should be observed in the visits of physicians when they are to
hold consultations, but as professional engagements may interfere or delay one of the parties, the
physician who first arrives should wait for his associate a reasonable period, after which the
consultation should be considered as postponed to a new appointment. If it be the attending
physician who is present, he will of course see the patient and prescribe, but if it be the
consulting physician, he should retire, except in an emergency, or when he has been called from
a considerable distance, in which latter case he may examine the patient, and give his opinion in
writing, and under seal, to be delivered to his associate.
III.—The relations of physicians to each other.
All practitioners of medicine, their wives, and their children while under paternal care,
are entitled to the gratuitous services of any one or more of the faculty residing near them, whose
assistance may be desired.
Gratuitous attendance cannot however be expected from physicians called from a
distance, nor need it be deemed obligatory when opposed by both the circumstances and the
preferences of the patient.
The affairs of life, the pursuit of health, and the various accidents and contingencies to
which a medical man is peculiarly exposed, may require him temporarily to withdraw from his
duties to his patients, and to request some of his professional brethren to officiate for him.
Compliance with this request is an act of courtesy which should always be performed with the
utmost consideration for the interests and character of the family physician, and when exercised
for a short period, all the pecuniary obligations for such service should be awarded to him. But if
a member of the profession neglect his business in quest of pleasure and amusement, he cannot
be considered as entitled to the advantages of the frequent and long-continued exercise of this
fraternal courtesy without awarding to the physician who officiates, the fees arising from the
discharge of his professional duties.
In obstetrical and important surgical cases, which give rise to unusual fatigue, anxiety,
and responsibility, it is just that the fees accruing therefrom should be awarded to the physician
who officiates.
Diversity of opinion and opposition of interest may, in the medical as in other
professions, occasion controversy and even contention. Whenever such cases unfortunately
occur, and cannot be immediately terminated, they should be referred to the arbitration of a
sufficient number of physicians before appealing to a medical society or the law, for settlement.
If medical controversies are brought before the public in newspapers or pamphlets, by
contending medical writers, and give rise to or contain assertions or insinuations injurious to the
personal character or professional qualifications of the parties, the effect is to lower in the
estimation of the public, not only the parties directly involved, but also the medical profession as
a whole. Such publications should therefore be brought to the notice of the County societies
having jurisdiction, and discipline inflicted, as the case may seem to require.