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Physician health and wellness: An ethical imperative

A recent report by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs focuses attention on steps individual physicians and the profession can take to maintain doctors' well-being.

Editorial. Jan. 26, 2004.

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By the end of January, the promises we make to do better in the new year often begin to fall by the wayside. But some things are so important they have staying power -- they become priorities that endure.

Such should be the case with new AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs' recommendations on physician health and wellness. The council says ethics guidance in this area is essential because of its impact on doctors' professional performance.

Its message, outlined in a report endorsed by the AMA House of Delegates at its December 2003 Interim Meeting (www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/369/ceja_1203b.pdf), emphasizes the importance of physicians attending to their own health and wellness, as well as that of their colleagues, by providing direction for both individuals and the profession as a whole.

This concept is consistent with ongoing efforts by the AMA, which has increasingly accented supportive approaches through its own physician health program. One of its most visible initiatives is the regularly held International Conference on Physician Health, which explores new research on this subject.

The report also highlights medicine's collective obligation to identify colleagues at risk -- whether from depression, alcoholism or a chronic condition -- and provide constructive and remedial steps to help them.

It's not an easy area to navigate. Evidence indicates that a physician's failing health or wellness sometimes might put patients at risk. Thus, concerns are often expressed in terms of "impairment" and "discipline" -- which may help protect patients but may not help the physician gain treatment.