Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1037

THOMAS PERCIVAL (1740-1804) Medical ethics; or, A code of institutes and precepts, adapted to the professional conduct of physicians and surgeons. Printed by S. Russell for J. Johnson and R. Bickerstaff 1803 xvi, 246 pp. 21.1 cm.

When the American Medical Association adopted its first code of ethics in 1847, many of its precepts were drawn from this book. Even today, after undergoing several revisions, the American Medical Association guidelines of ethical conduct for the physician are still based on those formulated by Percival. A physician of Manchester and staff physician to the Manchester Infirmary, Percival was asked by his colleagues to devise a set of laws for governing their hospital in the spring of 1792 and later was requested to expand it to include a code of medical ethics. The first half of the volume is devoted to the ethical principles which physicians and surgeons should exercise in their dealings with hospitals, with one another, with apothecaries, and in those cases where familiarity with the law is required. The second half of the book consists of an appendix containing a sermon on hospital duties addressed to the Liverpool Infirmary in 1791 by Percival's eldest son as well as a series of notes by Thomas Percival that enlarge upon the textual footnotes. Thomas Bassnett Percival (1766-1798), LL.B. of St. John's College, Cambridge was one of Percival's three sons and had studied science and medicine before deciding upon the ministry.

Cited references: Cushing P210; Garrison-Morton 1764; Osler 3645; Waller 7299

Gift of John Martin, M.D.