[The first deontology dissertation in Croatia (Desković, 1943)]

The first Croatian deontological dissertation, and probably one of the oldest in Europe, was written in Vienna in 1843. It was also published there in German. Our medical historians discovered it 40 years ago. However, its contents have up to now been unknown to our scientific and broader community. The manuscript, titled "About Physician's Duties to the State and to his Fellow-Men" (in German original: Joseph Descovich, Ueber die Pflichten des Artzes, Gegen den Staat uind seine Mitmenschen), is the work of a Dalmatian physician from Omis, Dr. Josip Desković. Nowadays when medical ethics has evolved into an independent academic discipline, and is rapidly spreading on all continents, this dissertation indicates that historical roots of medical ethics in Croats are by more than 150 years older compared to some other European countries, e. g. Sweden. The author presents the content of the dissertation and analyses it from ethical and sociological viewpoints. He relates it to Hippocratic ethics as well as to contemporary medical ethics termed bioethics, which is steadily establishing itself in modern medicine.