I recently found in my possession a document detailing the medical ethics principles adopted by the American Medical Association's House of Delegates on June 17, 2001. I believe this document was provided to me when I briefly joined the American Medical Association (AMA) after I completed my residency in radiation oncology at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee in 2004. In the interim, the AMA has not revised this document.
I expected to disagree with many of the AMA's bioethics principles. On review, however, the principles are so vague that they do not clearly conflict with the fundamentals of libertarian bioethics. But, full agreement is not the mother of an interesting blog post, so - donning my nitpick hat - AMA principle #3 is wordy. What is principle #3? AMA Principles of Medical Ethics #3 states the following: A physician shall respect the law and also recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient. A less wordy and, therefore, superior option in my opinion is for principle #3 to state the following: A physician shall respect just law. If stated that way I do not think the second part of the principle is needed, for unjust law, by definition, is contrary to the best interests of all patients.
I recommend perusal of the entire list of AMA Principles of Medical Ethics if one is interested, in the slightest, in bioethics.
I expected to disagree with many of the AMA's bioethics principles. On review, however, the principles are so vague that they do not clearly conflict with the fundamentals of libertarian bioethics. But, full agreement is not the mother of an interesting blog post, so - donning my nitpick hat - AMA principle #3 is wordy. What is principle #3? AMA Principles of Medical Ethics #3 states the following: A physician shall respect the law and also recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient. A less wordy and, therefore, superior option in my opinion is for principle #3 to state the following: A physician shall respect just law. If stated that way I do not think the second part of the principle is needed, for unjust law, by definition, is contrary to the best interests of all patients.
I recommend perusal of the entire list of AMA Principles of Medical Ethics if one is interested, in the slightest, in bioethics.
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