We all rely on doctors and they go through one of the most vigorous training regimes on the planet, but it wasn't always this way.

The tremendous scale of medical ethics which now exists has benefited doctors and wider society, but few know how these rules came to be.

Andreas-Holger Maehle, Professor of History of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Durham University's Department of Philosophy, Centre for the History of Medicine and Disease, and Wolfson Research Institute, has written this engaging and often riveting history of British medical ethics.

From communication with patients all the way through to hard moral choices, this book will provoke debate amongst doctors, nurses, lawyers, academics and other interested people all around the world.