The main idea of this article was to present the most popular verbal metaphors (service, calling, art) used to describe medical ethos in common language and to see what impact they have on everyday clinical practice. Metaphorical ethos of a physician is defined, and then confronted with the reality of organization of medical assistance. We regard the area of interpersonal relations with the patient as a main field of realization of postulates of professional ethics (both metaphorical and those common-use postulates and codified as Codex of Medical Ethics). Also we regard the phenomenon of reification as one of the main impediments on a way of realization of medical ethos in an everyday work of a physician. In the article we conclude that even metaphorically formulated professional ethos has a substantial influence on medical practice and therapy effectiveness, and therefore can’t be underestimated, when we are determining standards of professional responsibility.