__________________________________________________________________ Medical Ethics for Physicians
• To continuity of care. Patients should be able to expect that their physician will cooperate in coordinating medically indicated care with other healthcare professionals, and that the physician will not discontinue treating them when further treatment is medically indicated without giving them sufficient notice and reasonable assistance in making alternative arrangements for care. Opinion 3.1.1 Privacy in Health Care Protecting information gathered in association with the care of the patient is a core value in health care. However, respecting patient privacy in other forms is also fundamental, as an expression of respect for patient autonomy and a prerequisite for trust. Patient privacy encompasses a number of aspects, including personal space (physical privacy), personal data (informational privacy), personal choices including cultural and religious affiliations (decisional privacy), and personal relationships with family members and other intimates (associational privacy). Physicians must seek to protect patient privacy in all settings to the greatest extent possible and should: • Minimize intrusion on privacy when the patient’s privacy must be balanced against other factors. • Inform the patient when there has been a significant infringement on privacy of which the patient would otherwise not be aware. • Be mindful that individual patients may have special concerns about privacy in any or all of these areas. Opinion 9.6.2: Gifts to Physicians from Industry Relationships among physicians and professional medical organizations and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies help drive innovation in patient care and contribute to the economic well-being of the community to the ultimate benefit of patients and the public. However, an increasingly urgent challenge for both medicine and industry is to devise ways to preserve strong, productive collaborations at the same time that they take clear effective action to prevent relationships that damage public trust and tarnish the reputation of both parties. Gifts to physicians from industry create conditions that carry the risk of subtly biasing—or being perceived to bias— professional judgment in the care of patients. To preserve the trust that is fundamental to the patient- physician relationship and public confidence in the profession, physicians should: • Decline cash gifts in any amount from an entity that has a direct interest in physicians’ treatment recommendations. • Decline any gifts for which reciprocity is expected or implied.
• Accept an in-kind gift for the physician’s practice only when the gift will directly benefit patients, including patient education and is of minimal value. • Academic institutions and residency and fellowship programs may accept special funding on behalf of trainees to support medical students’, residents’, and fellows’ participation in professional meetings, including educational meetings, provided the program identifies recipients based on independent institutional criteria and funds are distributed to recipients without specific attribution to sponsors. CONCLUSION Familiarity with and adherence to the AMA Code of Medical Ethics can offer a degree of protection from the various pitfalls of practicing medicine in contemporary American society, such as administrative sanctions and malpractice suits. Following federal, state, and local laws, along with any/all ethical codes or rules where practicing, offers further protection from legal or administrative action; however, ethical medical principles are primarily intended to benefit the patient during their time of uncertainty. The goal of ethics, and ethical practice, is to do right by the patient, avoid harm, and maintain trust with the patient and the public, so essential to the humane and safe practice of medicine. The physician with a good understanding of ethics is equipped to serve the patient well; to listen, inform, and provide a measure of autonomy; and, when necessary, confront difficult choices or ethical dilemmas with the confidence required to make sound decisions.
RESOURCES
Journal of Bioethics https://bioethicstoday.org AMA Medical Ethics https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics
WORKS CITED https://qr2.mobi/Med-Ethics
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