Medical Ethics is the discipline of evaluating the merits, risks, and social concerns of activities in the field of medicine. Principles include:

• A practitioner should act in the best interest of the patient (Salus aegroti suprema lex)
• "First, do no harm" (primum non nocere), from the Hippocratic Oath
• Autonomy is a patient's right to choose or refuse treatment (Voluntas aegroti suprema lex)
• Justice - concerns the distribution of scarce health resources, and the decision of who gets what treatment
• Dignity - the patient (and the person treating the patient) have the right to dignity
• Truthfulness - patients should not be lied to, and deserves to know the whole truth about their illness and treatment.