The short answer is no. Ethics has to do with the rightness and wrongness of human behavior, in this case medical activities. To deliberately operate on the wrong leg or to perform an unnecessary procedure to make money would be acknowledged as wrong, or immoral behavior, by most doctors whatever their ethical background.

Medical ethics is a separate discipline because the elements making up a medical moral decision are complex: the facts of the medical action, the understanding of the physician and the circumstances surrounding the action all interact to various degrees to yield moral responsibility. Specific religious beliefs have little or nothing to do with the essence of the medical act, the doctor-patient relationship. That relationship is essentially between a competent physician, a suffering patient and the, hopefully, effective therapeutic intervention. The doctor-patient relationship is elementally human and precedes sectarian considerations.

The Hippocratic ethic, as summarized in the Oath reflects the universality with its summary statement, "primum non nocere" or do no harm. Few will or can disagree with this. Our medical tradition emphasizes competent beneficent medical treatments.

Compassion compliments the ethical imperative. It can be argued that the concept of compassion was not emphasized by the Greeks but was added by the Judeo-Christian-Moslem traditions. Compassion is an intuited component with the Hippocratic ethic but the latter carries a primacy of place. Some religious traditions may have additional observations on the basic tenets of medical ethics (such as the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives). But the "primum non nocere" principle crosses all religion and cultural boundaries and applies to all physicians.

As an end note, it should be observed that, while some are concerned that particular religious considerations deny, in some circumstances, what they consider to be medical rights, the far greater threat to medical ethics is the utilitarian effort to deny any moral principles in medical practice.

Ethical considerations exist in medicine. There are some behaviors which should be done and some which should not.

The Hippocratic Oath is the best summary of medical ethics thus far articulated. A tradition which should be exemplified by every physician. Articles concerning appication of the Hippocratic Oath: Is There A Catholic Medical Ethic? The Human Act and Medical Practice Is Medical Ethics Sectarian? Other Articles on Cathlic Medical Ethics