THE SEPARATION BETWEEN, DEONTOLOGY AND LAW

Good practice, good medical practice standards and Law, in particular Medical Law, respond to issues applying to different realms of reality and there is therefore a logical, and even necessary, distance between them. But, although different, they can not be contradictory, and a true distance arises when they either remain isolated or there are collisions between them. Medical law should not be isolated and independent from moral criteria, but neither should it depend on a "democratic ethic". Whenever there is a discrepancy between good medical practice standards and the law, if we limit our approach to a regulatory perspective, the law will prevail. It is therefore preferable for there to be collaboration between the two, so that in relation to a legal ethos, a professional ethos will be reinforced in benefi t of society as a whole. Nevertheless, when such discrepancies arise, it is important to guarantee by means of "conscious objection clauses" that professionals will not be forced to perform legally permitted procedures of which their conscience disapproves.