ETHICS - the Most Honest? Medical Professionals, Americans Say

by Diane E. Lewis
The Boston Globe
January 5, 2004

When it comes to honesty and ethics, workers in some professions are ranked higher than others.

That's what the New York-based Gallup Organization found when it asked 1,004 Americans to determine which professionals were the most honest.

Medical professionals ranked higher than any other group, with nurses claiming the top spot after winning 83 percent of the votes for most ethical and honest.

Physicians and veterinarians tied for second place, each receiving 68 percent of the votes.

Pharmacists, who garnered 67 percent, ranked third, while dentists, with 61 percent, came in fourth.

As it is, nurses have held the top spot for years, according to Gallup, though they did drop to second place after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

That year, firefighters were ranked number one, with more than 80 percent of the votes. But firefighters were not in the survey this year.

As for car salesmen, HMO managers, insurance salesmen, advertising executives and lawyers, they were among those receiving the fewest votes by respondents. Car salesmen, in fact, ranked last, with 7 percent of the votes.

But 15 percent of the respondents said they believed stockbrokers to be honest, up from 13 percent in 2002.

''Overall, there has been little change in the public's rating of the honesty and ethics of professions over the past year,'' Gallup reported. ``The images of business executives and stockbrokers remain slightly lower than they were before the recent wave of business scandals.''