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Academy News: September 2003 Declaration of Professional Responsibility As we become a more and more global society, medicine also becomes a more global endeavor. Throughout the world physicians “share a common heritage of caring for the sick and suffering.” With the advent of rapidly expanding health threats, such as SARS, Ebola, and acts of terrorism, the American Medical Association felt it was important to reaffirm the “professional ideals [shared] by the world community of physicians.” As such, they created the following oath which “physicians can publicly uphold and celebrate.” This oath covers physicians’ “roles as clinicians (3-5), researchers (6), educators (7, 9), and members of a civil society (1, 2, 8)” and transcends all specialties, geographic, and political boundaries. While The Declaration outlines the contract physicians have with humanity, it does not represent a codification of medical ethics. What it does provide is an opportunity for our profession to reaffirm its commitment to the needs of humankind, and to “serve as a constant reminder to the profession and the world’s population of the ideals that have motivated physicians for hundreds of years.” As is stated at the end of the Preamble, “Humanity is our patient.” Declaration of Professional Responsibility: Medicine’s Social Contract with Humanity Preamble Never in the history of human civilization has the well-being of each individual been so inextricably linked to that of every other. Plagues and pandemics respect no national borders in a world of global commerce and travel. Wars and acts of terrorism enlist innocents as combatants and mark civilians as targets. Advances in medical science and genetics, while promising great good, may also be harnessed as agents of evil. The unprecedented scope and immediacy of these universal challenges demand concerted action and response by all. As physicians, we are bound in our response by a common heritage of caring for the sick and the suffering. Through the centuries, individual physicians have fulfilled this obligation by applying their skills and knowledge competently, selflessly, and at times heroically. Today, our profession must reaffirm its historical commitment to combat natural and man-made assaults on the health and well-being of human kind. Only by acting together across geographic and ideological divides can we overcome such powerful threats. Humanity is our patient. Declaration We, the members of the world community of physicians, solemnly commit ourselves to:
We make these promises solemnly, freely, and upon our personal and professional honor. As stated in the introduction to the Declaration, the oath “is activated when physicians speak it aloud, affirming together, ‘We make these promises solemnly, freely, and upon our personal and professional honor.’” References: American Medical News. May 27, 2002. Accessed online on 06/24/03 at http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/amn_02/edsa0527.htm Code of Medical Ethics: Current Opinions with Annotations. American Medical Association. Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. 2002. p. 291-292. The Ethics Committee provides these discussions as a way to open a dialogue on the various ethical issues that confront our specialty on a daily basis. These issues are often quite complex and do not have simple “right” or “wrong” solutions. The articles are meant as a way to highlight the various issues that are involved in these ethical dilemmas, they should not be viewed as the Ethics Committee or the Academy’s particular stance on an issue. |
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