Declaration of Professional Responsibility: A statement of purpose

The AMA's declaration is an affirmation of the role and the responsibilities of the physician.

Editorial. May 27, 2002.

"Humanity is our patient."

Those four short words sum up the complex issues that face the medical profession in these challenging and changing times. The statement is taken from the preamble of the "Declaration of Professional Responsibility: Medicine's Social Contract with Humanity." In promulgating the declaration late last year, the AMA put into clear, concise language the increasingly difficult decisions that must be confronted by the medical profession in the coming months and years.

The need for such a unifying statement becomes more obvious with each passing day. "Globalization" has become almost a cliché, but for the world's medical community, it has become a fact of life.

"Never in the history of human civilization," as the preamble to the declaration states, "has the well-being of each individual been so inextricably linked to that of every other." The realities of modern travel mean that plagues and pandemics -- whether brought about by terrorist or by nature -- respect no national borders. Wars and terrorist acts endanger not only the military; innocent civilians have become targets. On the scientific front, medical advances, as well as the rapidly growing knowledge of genetics, promise much good, but also may be harnessed by those with evil intent. [...]