Codes of Ethics for Laboratory Medicine: Definition, Structure and Procedures – A Narrative Review Based on Existing National Codes

BACKGROUND: It behoves every national society of clinical laboratory medicine to have a well formulated and publicly accessible policy concerning the morally acceptable way in which its members should practise their profession; such a policy is published as a Code of Ethics. This Code assists its members in the performance of their duties in relation to the patients they share with other clinicians, within their own particular professional environment and, at large, to the rest of their national society. METHODS AND RESULT: The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine’s (IFCC) Task Force on Ethics here examines a curated selection of extant Codes and provides guidance at the level of definition, structure and procedures to assist national societies and their clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine professionals in the task of crafting their own Ethics Code.