@article {Albury35, author = {W R Albury and G M Weisz}, title = {The medical ethics of Erasmus and the physician-patient relationship}, volume = {27}, number = {1}, pages = {35--41}, year = {2001}, doi = {10.1136/mh.27.1.35}, publisher = {Institute of Medical Ethics}, abstract = {Desiderius Erasmus set out his views on medical ethics just over 500 years ago. Applying the characteristic approach of Renaissance Humanism, he drew upon a variety of classical sources to develop his own account of medical obligation. Of particular interest is Erasmus{\textquoteright}s attention to the patient{\textquoteright}s duties as well as the physician{\textquoteright}s. By treating this reciprocal relationship as a friendship between extreme unequals, Erasmus was able to maintain the nobility of the medical art and at the same time deal with the culturally sensitive issue of payment for physicians{\textquoteright} services. The use of physician-patient reciprocity as a principle of medical ethics has until recently been considered a novel feature of nineteenth-century medical codes. As Erasmus{\textquoteright}s treatment of physician-patient reciprocity arose from a classical conception of friendship, there may be grounds for reconsidering the role of friendship in other discourses on medical ethics from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century.}, issn = {1468-215X}, URL = {https://mh.bmj.com/content/27/1/35}, eprint = {https://mh.bmj.com/content/27/1/35.full.pdf}, journal = {Medical Humanities} }