Chapter VII: Ethics

All doctors must maintain and perfect their knowledge in accordance with their obligation of continuing professional development.

The doctor must assist the competent authorities in their efforts to protect health and promote health education. He shall participate in health monitoring activities. The collection, recording, processing and transmission of nominative or indirectly nominative information are authorised under the conditions laid down by law.

When the doctor participates in a public information campaign of an educational, scientific or health nature, whatever the means of dissemination, he or she will only report confirmed data, will exercise caution and will be concerned about the repercussions of his or her comments on the public. They do not intend to profit from their contribution in the context of their professional activity, nor to benefit the organisations in which…

Physicians must not divulge in medical circles a new diagnostic or treatment procedure that has not been sufficiently tested without accompanying their communication with the appropriate reservations. They must not make such a disclosure to the non-medical public.

Doctors may only take part in biomedical research on individuals under the conditions laid down by law; they must ensure that such research is regular and relevant and that its conclusions are objective. The attending physician who participates in biomedical research as an investigator must ensure that the study does not alter either the relationship of trust between him and the patient or the continuity of care.

The collection of blood and the removal of organs, tissues, cells or other products of the human body from living or deceased persons may only be carried out in the cases and under the conditions defined by law.

Doctors may only carry out medically assisted procreation in the cases and under the conditions laid down by law.

A doctor may only carry out a voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the cases and under the conditions laid down by law; he or she is always free to refuse to do so and must inform the person concerned of this under the conditions and within the time limits laid down by law.

Medicine should not be practised like a business.

I. – The doctor is free to communicate to the public, by any means, including on a website, information likely to contribute to the patient’s free choice of practitioner, relating in particular to his professional skills and practices, his career path and the conditions of his practice. This communication must comply with the provisions in force and the ethical obligations defined in this section. It is fair and honest, does…