A Brief History of Medical Ethics Code in Poland

Abstract

On March 15,1934 a Parliamentary Act authorized the General Medical Chambers, a body incorporating all Polish physicians, to establish general rules of medical ethicAi. These rules governed medical conduct in Poland until 1950, when the Communist government dissolved the General Medical Chambers. From 1950 to 1989 the only medical organization in Poland tolerated by the Communist government was the Polish Medical Association, which included about 30% of the country's physicians. In 1967 this group produced the of Ethico-deontological principles of the Polish Physician which constituted a kind of code of medical ethics. This collection was a compromise between objective ethical principles and the demands of the Communist regime. For example, Principle 1 of the Collection stated that the physician had to observe the ethico-deontological principles obligatory in socialist society. During round-table talks in early 1989 with representatives of the Communist government, the Solidarity movement argued for the revival of autonomous medical organizations like the Medical Chambers. On May 17, 1989 an Act of Parliament re-established the group. The Act (article 33, part 1) also stipulated that the National Congress of Physicians, the legislative body of Medical Chambers, establish rules of medical ethics. The Act (article 15, part 1) also states that all practicing Polish physicians are obliged to observe these rules. When the revived Chambers began its work in January 1990, its governing body—the General Medical Council—created a Commission to prepare a draft of a medical ethics code. After a year and a half of work, the Commission completed its draft, which received preliminary acceptance by the General Medical Council.