La deontologia come fonte del diritto. La codificazione dell’etica medica in Francia, Germania e Italia.

Abstract

The role of professional ethics as a source of law: a comparative analysis of the
 codification of medical ethics in France, Germany and Italy.
 The paper aims at analysing, from a comparative perspective, the role of the codes of
 medical ethics in France, Germany and Italy. The survey focuses on the formal
 aspects of the interrelationships between law and medical ethics, describing the
 codification of medical ethics, the regulatory function of the medical councils, the
 binding value of the codes of medical ethics and their position in the hierarchy of
 norms. From a more substantial perspective, the essay also gives a few examples of
 how the concrete role of medical ethics depends on the combination of some essential
 factors characterising the multi-layered relationships between law, medical ethics and
 professional associations.