The number of professional and research ethics codes have increased tremendously in the last few years. Likewise, the number of legal regulations of medical research has grown. In bioethics there is a strong focus upon such codes and guidelines. However, the fact that ethical concerns take on a legal form might create a situation where a procedure of legal interpretations replaces ethical reflection. This project investigates the concept of "ethical competence" within the field of medical practice and research. Further, the importance of ethical guidelines in the development of such competence is studied. In a philosophical study a number of ethical guidelines are analyzed. In an empirical investigation doctors and nurses involved in medical practice and research are interviewed about how they make ethical decisions and whether or not they are familiar with any ethical guidelines for their work. Finally, the results from these investigations are analysed through a critical philosophical method where the contemporary attitude to ethical regulations is related to models of virtue ethics and communicative theory. A gender perspective will also be applied. The project aims to reach a reasonable model of ethical regulation, given the goal of developing responsible researchers and health care givers in order to protect patients and research persons.