Medical Ethics and Oath: The Urgent Need to Revist the Critical Relevance to Contemporary Medical Practice.

Abstract

Medical ethics, like  in other areas of life, is an attempt to distinguish between good and bad  deeds.  Health  care  is important  to   guide   doctors  and other  health   care  workers  to  do   no  harm  in   the   performance   of  their duties. There are  many   facets   to   medical   ethics,   including   negligence,   harmlessness,   and   charity.   As   a   result  of  their   failure   to   practice  medical  ethics,  some physicians  have   faced   lawsuits   and   even   medical   disciplinary   boards   from  their patients and  clients.  Some have even been suspended from medical practice for  months or  years,  or even  deregistered   with  their  national   medical  licensing  boards. This research work employed the doctrinal method of research in reaching its conclusion. The research also employed an analytical approach in the research. Analytical research, as the name implies, analyzes a particular law and enables one to know what the law is about on a particular subject.An overview of the general principles of medical ethics, nature and implications was presented in this paper.At the end of the work, it was recommended that the various medical or health laws in Nigeria should be amended to incorporate contemporary trends in medical practice; massive education of the citizenry should be done to educate people about their health rights and strong institutions should be put in place for the enhancement of medical law in Nigeria.