An overview of ethical issues in medical laboratories

Medical laboratory is one of the health service providers that intensely responsible for the life of patient / client. With an increase in the number and variety of laboratory tests in recent years، the role of laboratory science in identifying and assessing the cause of disease has been more recognized. Performing the laboratory tests with the utmost accuracy، precision and speed using up to date methods as well as protecting the rights، integrity and respecting human dignity and also the establishment of priorities and the requisites for quality management systems can have a significant impact on patient satisfaction and quality which are the characteristics of a good medical laboratory. The principle concept of doing good and not doing bad is the essence of every code of medical ethics. Therefore، in laboratory medicine like other areas of medical sciences، there are ethical questions that have become more complex with the development of diagnostic tests. Medical laboratory practitioners usually deal with issues of confidentiality of patient information، as well as issues related to research ethics، professional ethics and business ethics. This study has collected important and common topics of medical ethics in laboratory medicine which leads to increase readers’ and practitioners’ information in this field. It is hoped that such information could be effective and practical to improve the laboratorial services for patients.