Morals, ethics, laws, and clinical audiologists

Professional conduct is guided by personal values that serve to create an individualized set of morals. Moral behavior, as it is recognized and accepted by a larger community to guide the behavior of the community, influences development of ethical principles and rules to guide professional conduct. Ethical principles, as they gain stature, may be further formalized into law. Morals, ethics, and law are linked by interrelationships in which the inadequacies of one are offset by the other to guide professional conduct in health-care service delivery. This article examines highlights in the areas of morals, ethics, and law in isolation, as well as in combination, in regard to professional advertising, scope of practice, treatment by correspondence, and conflict of interest issues. It offers brief examples of moral, ethical, and legal behavior as a reminder of the complexity of professional conduct, as well as a possible guide to those who may have their own interest in or need for examining professional behavior. It also provides a reminder of the vagaries in understanding and application of moral, ethical, and legal principles to professional conduct.