AlphaMED Resources · https://alphamedicine.uk/Resources/glossary/ethics-law

Ethics vs law

Law is what is legally required and enforced. Ethics is what is right, which can ask more than the law or sometimes conflict with it.

Updated 19 October 2026 (1 minute read)

Summary

Law is set by Parliament and the courts, and breaking it can bring penalties.
Ethics is about what is right, judged by principles such as honesty, respect for the patient and fairness.
Ethics can ask more than the law requires, and the law can be silent where ethics has a view.
The two can conflict. A law may permit something a doctor considers wrong, and the doctor then has to decide what to do.
Some duties appear in both, such as candour, which the law places on providers of care.

In practice

Under regulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, registered providers must act in an open and transparent way with the people receiving care.
Under section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967, no one is under a duty to take part in treatment authorised by the Act to which they have a conscientious objection, meaning a refusal based on conscience. The person relying on that objection bears the burden of proof in any legal proceedings.

Interview questions

What do you know about the difference between law and ethics in medicine?
A doctor believes a patient has not been told something important about a mistake, although the legal requirement appears to have been met. What do you think the doctor should do?
Should the law protect a doctor's right to refuse treatment on grounds of conscience, and what are the arguments against?

Sources

legislation.gov.uklegislation.gov.uk/…/20
legislation.gov.uklegislation.gov.uk/…/4

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Duty of candour The duty of candour is the duty to be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong with their care. Abortion Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by medicine or surgery. Honesty vs integrity Honesty is telling the truth. Integrity is doing what is right when it would be easier not to. Four pillars of medical ethics The four pillars are autonomy, beneficence, non maleficence and justice. They are the framework most often used to think through an ethical problem in medicine.

More NHS hot topics, medical ethics case studies and medical school interview questions are in AlphaMED Resources, which we add to and update through the application cycle.