[Changes in ethical attitudes during medical studies]

The aim of this work was to explore the attitude changes towards ethico-medical issues in medical students as they went through medical school. A personal standardized questionnaire containing 14 closed and direct questions was applied to 27 freshmen, 38 interns and 14 post graduates. The most outstanding differences in ethical attitudes occurred between first year students and the older groups. The younger students adhered to ethical principles, valued justice towards patients and moral integrity in physicians. The older students and post graduates emphasized the professional role of physicians and preferred institutional ethical regulations over public control. They also considered more valuable therapeutic efficiency and paternal attitudes towards patients as well as social prestige and economical rewards. We conclude that there is a progressive erosion of humanistic principles along the medical studies, that are substituted by a model of professional competence, social recognition and internal ethical control.