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.
Because health care is a fundamental human good, society has an obligation to make access to an adequate level of care available to all its members, regardless of ability to pay.
Physicians have a responsibility to contribute their expertise to developing resource allocation policies that are fair and that safeguard the welfare of patients.
Physicians individually and collectively have an ethical responsibility to ensure that all persons have access to needed care regardless of their economic means.
Physicians should hold leaders accountable to meeting conditions for professionalism in health care systems. This includes advocating for changes in health care payment and delivery models to promote access to high quality care for all patients, recognizing that over-reliance on financial incentives may undermine physician professionalism.
Physicians are free to enter into retainer contracts to provide special non-medical services and amenities with individual patients who are willing and able to pay for them. However, physicians must always uphold their primary professional obligation of fidelity and their responsibility to treat all patients with courtesy, to respect patients’ rights and dignity, and to ensure that all patients in their practice receive the same quality of medical care.
Physicians within institutions that have or are contemplating a merger of secular and faith-based institutions have a responsibility to protect the community that the institution serves as well as the integrity of the institution, and other physicians and professionals who practice in association with it, while recognizing that physicians’ primary obligation is to their patients.
Health disparities across patient populations reflect deeply embedded, historically rooted socioeconomic and political dynamics. Physicians and health care institutions have a duty to serve as agents of change to address these structural barriers to optimal health for all.
