HISTORY OF

Medical Ethics
 A brief history of medical
ethics in China
The value system of medical ethics in China
has a long tradition that can be traced back to
ancient times.
As in ancient Greek medicine, the
professional values of ancient Chinese medicine
arose with the development of medical
professionalism itself. In ancient China,
“profession” meant one’s duties.
Zhou Dynasty (from 1065-771 B.C.E.)
an independent medical profession and medical
system took shape , built around four aspects: dietetic,
internal, surgery, and veterinary.

Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.E.) and the

Warring States (475-221 B.C.E.)
medicine began to divorce itself from witchcraft
(magic) and became an experience-based knowledge and a
professional skill .
• In ancient China, folk physicians
didn’t have fixed clinics or hospitals
but went from one place to another
practicing medicine freely.
• They hadn’t formal training and
weren’t licensed, but performed their
work by their own skills and
consciences.
• Ancient physicians paid great
attention to prognosis and
accumulated rich experience,
codified in ancient medical books
such as the Canon of Medicine and
Classic on Medical Problems.
• By judging whether a patient was
curable or incurable, a physician
decided whether to accept the case
for treatment.
• Medicine should not be offered in six
circumstances, namely, to (1) people
who have unreasonable arrogance
and indulgence, (2) people who
appreciate riches more than life, (3)
people who cannot even keep body
and soul together, (4) people who
suffer from interlocking Yin and
Yang, (5) people who are too weak
to take medicines, and (6) people
who don’t believe in medicine but in
sorcery.
• the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.)
Confucianism shaped the core values
of Chinese culture.
medicine is a humane art
it emphasizes on caring about patients
and on physicians’ self-cultivation in
virtue.
Benevolence is the core of Confucian
ethics. In Confucianism “benevolence”
means, “to love the people.”
 Confucianism required
doctors to be very cautious and
responsible in the course of diagnosis
and prescription in order to avoid
mistakes that would harm patients.
 The Confucian principle also calls for
respect for patients.
The principle calls for “universal
love,” that is,
to treat every patient equally,
regardless of social status, family
background, appearances, age, etc.
 “Whoever comes to seek cure
must be treated like your own
relatives regardless of their social
status, family economic conditions,
appearances, ages, races, and
mental abilities.

— Simiao Sun
• For Confucians, morality is grounded in
human nature, which is expressed by
Confucius as ren or humaneness,
sometime simply as benevolence.
• From this origin of morality, some more
concrete moral principles spurt out, such
as the principles of ren, yi, li and zhi, or
principles of benevolence, of justice, of
propriety , and of moral consciousness.
• These are major guiding principles for our
common lives.
• The leading principle is the moral
mind and our concern about the
sufferings of others.
• “one must understand Confucianism
before one really understand what
medicine is all about.”
• With the introduction of Western
medicine beginning in the nineteenth
century, China’s medical system has
changed tremendously.
• A new type of medical system has
emerged and a new perspective on
professional ethics has gained
people’s attention.
• This change has also brought new
requirements for doctors, who now
are responsible not only for their
patients, but also for their
hospitals and the whole society.
• Meanwhile, Western theories of
medical ethics and professional
standards of medicine were
introduced into China.
• never being selfish but
always ready to help
others” have become the
principal values of medical
ethics.