This new edition of the Code of Medical Ethics is the culmination of an eight-year project to modernize the Code's ethical guidance for relevance, clarity and consistency. It represents the first comprehensive review of the Code in more than half a century. The features of this significantly revised edition will allow physicians to more easily incorporate the Code into their daily practice of medicine. The Code of Medical Ethics was adopted at the first AMA meeting in 1847. Much in medicine has changed in 169 years, but this founding document-the first uniform code of ethics of its kind- is still the basis of an explicit social contract between physicians and their patients. It is regularly cited as the medical profession's authoritative voice in legal opinions and in scholarly journals. It should be in every medical library and practice office. Features and Benefits Intuitive chapter structure makes finding pertinent guidance easy A uniform format for opinions improves the readability and application of guidance The consolidation of guidance into a single, comprehensive statement on each topic A new approach to organizing guidance for related issues that brings about subject harmony An update or the retirement of significantly outdated guidance Inclusion of a new preface to clarify the different levels of ethical obligation in the various ethical opinions . Target Audience Physicians, physician assistants, medical students and residents, attorneys, law firms, ethicists and professors of ethics, bioethics students, US medical school libraries, US hospital libraries and large practices.