MEDICAL CONDUCT AND PRACTICE

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

A MANUAL OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE & TOXICOLOGY.

Fourth Edition. Containing Frontispiece in Colour and 26 Illustrations in the Text.

A

MANUAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

Fourth Edition. Containing 25 Illustrations
in the Text.

"It would be hard to find two more useful books for medical students. Dr. Aitchison Robertson has reduced condensation to a fine art and it is almost impossible to say that any essential information has been omitted."Medical Times.

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AND PRACTICE

A GUIDE TO THE ETHICS OF MEDICINE

BY

W. G. AITCHISON ROBERTSON

M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P.E., F.R.S.E.

LECTURER ON MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH, SCHOOL OF MEDICINE,
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, EDINBURGH; LATE EXAMINER IN FORENSIC
MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, AND IN MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE
AND PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS; EXAMINER FOR THE
MEMBERSHIP OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND FOR THE
TRIPLE QUALification of THE ROYAL COLLEGES OF PHYSICIANS AND
SURGEONS OF EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW; EXAMINER IN BACTERI-
OLOGY AND LABORATORY WORK FOR THE DIPLOMA IN PUBLIC
HEALTH OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, EDINBURGH;
MEMBER OF THE MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY; TEACHER OF
VACCINATION, ROYAL DISPENSARY, EDINBURGH; FELLOW
OF THE SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES ; PRESI-
DENT POUR GRANDE BRETAGNE L'ALLIANCE SCIEN-
TIFIQUE UNIVERSELLE; ETC.

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1921

R

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

-Henley.

R727 R65 1921

PREFACE

THE young practitioner often finds himself in difficulty as to how best to act under certain circumstances. A more experienced colleague would in most cases be able to advise him, were his advice asked. The young man, however, feels diffident to lay his trouble before another, and so remains in anxiety.

I have written this small volume with the object of affording the young doctor that amount of help, advice and guidance which I myself would have welcomed could I have obtained it when commencing practice.

The subject of Medical Ethics has received a good deal of attention of late, not only from the General Medical Council, who are interested in seeing that this subject is taught to students preparing for their final examination, but also from the Ethical Committee of the British Medical Association. In lecturing to my students of Forensic Medicine it has always been my practice to include Medical Ethics, and in the following pages I have embodied most of what I teach.

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