The AMA was founded in part to establish the first national code of medical ethics. Today the Code is widely recognized as authoritative ethics guidance for physicians through its Principles of Medical Ethics interpreted in Opinions of AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs that address the evolving challenges of contemporary practice.
Physicians have an ethical obligation to address conditions that undermine their ability to fulfill their responsibilities to provide safe, high-quality patient care.
The more readily transmissible the disease and the greater the risk to patients whom the physician comes into contact, the stronger the duty to accept immunization.
Access to unproven, experimental treatments by individuals who are unable or unwilling to participate in clinical trials of new interventions raise ethical concerns.
Physicians’ dual obligations to serve both the well-being of their individual patients and that of other patients and the community at large come into sharp tension in a public health emergency.
During times of extraordinary need, would it be appropriate to involve medical students in providing direct patientcare to supplement the physician workforce?