I want to present a case that the health care professions should understand and use their codes of ethics as descriptions not only of the professional characteristics necessary to fulfill the care for people (which is the moral purpose of medicine), but also of the kind of person who can perform and persevere as a caregiver in a tragic profession. The various codes of ethics depict morally lofty professionals who are concerned with the honor and integrity of their professions as well as the well-being and dignity of their patients. Yet, it is possible within each dimension of health care that persons devoted to their respective codes experience untended and grievous results in their practices. We should not look at the codes as though they safeguard practitioners from such results. Rather, we should see them as the expectations upon people who remain committed to health care, even while suffering undesired losses in practicing it.
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