The AMA’s Declaration of Professional Responsibility is an oath that lays out medicine’s social contract with humanity. Adopted by the AMA House of Delegates in 2001, the physician duties professed in the AMA Declaration are just as relevant today as they were then.
“Never in the history of human civilization has the well-being of each individual been so inextricably linked to that of every other,” it begins. “Plagues and pandemics respect no national borders in a world of global commerce and travel. Wars and acts of terrorism enlist innocents as combatants and mark civilians as targets. Advances in medical science and genetics, while promising great good, may also be harnessed as agents of evil. The unprecedented scope and immediacy of these universal challenges demand concerted action and response by all.”
It goes on to stipulate that the medical profession must reaffirm its historical commitment to combatting natural and man-made attacks on people’s health and well-being, and that this can only be accomplished by acting in concert across geographic and ideological divides.
"Humanity is our patient,” it says.
The August issue of AMA Journal of Ethics® (@JournalofEthics) considers that, if these statements are to be more than platitudes, physicians should think anew about what continued human existence requires of health care domestically and globally.
The AMA Journal of Ethics is an editorially independent, peer-reviewed journal devoted to helping students and clinicians navigate ethical decisions in service to patients and communities. The August issue of the journal includes the following articles.
“Why and How Should Physicians Mitigate Threats of Nuclear War?”
- This commentary on a case argues there are two reasons why physicians, in particular, should help avert nuclear war.
“Is There a Right to Protection Against Environmental Existential Threats?”
- Despite broad awareness of impending existential threats to humanity, protections from these threats are not yet widely recognized as human rights.
“Why Should Clinicians Care About Infectious Disease Existential Hazards?”
- Of all infectious disease events, pandemics could result in significant human depopulation in this Anthropocene Epoch or even in the next few centuries.
“Four Key Concepts in Existential Health Care Ethics.”
- Existential ethics is the study of the ethical and evaluative implications of human extinction. This article examines four key concepts in this emerging field.
Listen and learn
The journal’s August “Ethics Talk” podcast features a conversation with Joseph G. Hodgkin, MD, co-chair of the Greater Boston chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and a member of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Farah Hussain, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine and director of planetary health at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. They discuss why physicians and other health professionals should care about nuclear proliferation and why health professions education curricula need to include planetary health.
The August issue also features eight author-interview podcasts and one editorial-fellow-interview podcast. Listen to previous episodes of the “Ethics Talk” podcast or subscribe in iTunes or other services.
Also, CME modules drawn from this month’s issue are collected at the AMA Ed Hub™ AMA Journal of Ethics webpage.
The next issue of the journal will focus on screening children for structural drivers of health. Apply to be an AMA Journal of Ethics editorial fellow or senior editorial fellow and design a theme issue with us.
