The history of ethics in the American Optometric Association 1898-1994

The history surrounding the development of codes of ethics and other official statements of desired professional conduct adopted by the American Optometric Association reveals the interesting struggle optometry faced in establishing itself as a leading primary health care profession.

Information regarding the events and documents reported in this paper were obtained through research of the historical literature and achieves at the International Library, Archives and Museum of Optometry located at the American Optometry Association's offices at 243 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, MO.

Forces outside as well as within the profession were found to have influenced the drafting and redrafting of the official ethical and professional conduct statements that were meant to guide the professional behavior of the membership of the AOA.

Ethical codes and other statements of desired conduct have been essential to the establishment of the profession of optometry. As optometry has grown and matured as a provider of primary eye and vision care services, so have its ethical emphases.