During the post World War II era and immediately after its foundation , the World Medical Association ( WMA ) showed concern over the state of medical ethics in general and all over the world , taking the responsibility for setting ethical guidelines for the world physicians . The details of the Nazi Doctors ' Trial at Nuremberg which ended August 1947 and the revelations about what the Imperial Japanese Army had done at Unit 731 in China during the war clearly demonstrated the need for reform , and for a re-affirmed set of guidelines regarding both human rights and the rights of patients
Unit 731
Unit 731
Declaration of Geneva