Code of Medical Ethics modernized for first time in 50 years

Physicians have just affirmed a comprehensive update of the nearly 170-year-old AMA Code of Medical Ethics, the conclusion of a meticulous project started eight years ago to ensure that this ethical guidance keeps pace with the demands of the changing world of medical practice. The modernized Code, approved Monday during the 2016 AMA Annual Meeting, is the first comprehensive review of this foundational document in more than half a century. For this undertaking, the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs reviewed each individual ethical opinion for clarity, timeliness, ongoing relevance in today’s health care environment and consistency across the Code. “Contemporary medicine must remain moral medicine during the current rapid pace of change in health care delivery system, and just as it did during its founding, the AMA has responded to this challenge by again putting ethics on center stage,” AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD, said in a news release. “The comprehensive update to the Code’s ethics guidance keeps pace with emerging demands physicians face with new technologies, changing patient expectations and shifting health care priorities.” Making the Code more accessible One of the goals of the modernization was to make the Code simpler to navigate and related opinions easier to find so that physicians could more readily apply it in their daily practice of medicine. Changes made include: Created a more intuitive chapter structure so that guida...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news