Importance of medical ethics philosophy and necessity of medical ethics teaching

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Medical ethics is an interdisciplinary knowledge which deals with the ethical and value aspects of medical profession and medical sciences. Although medical ethics has a history of 2500 years, it has been formally included in medical training courses in most of medical sciences universities of the world since 30 years ago and quickly became a common part of curriculum for medical students. In fact, extensive advances in medical care and medical knowledge and also recent social changes have caused ethics to be raised as an essential part of today’s medical education. Despite extensive research on the curriculum of medical ethics and several useful reviews and revisions, still many questions about the nature, objectives, and results of these courses have remained unanswered. This has led to the negligence of many of the qualities, skills, and abilities that should be included in the curriculum of medical ethics. Studies have shown that some of the courses offered as medical ethics in the curriculum have not managed to help physicians to improve their ethical skills.