The author believes the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs should collaborate with academic physicians to create clear professional standards for the field of medicine.
The threat of bioterrorism in the form of aerosolized smallpox is real, and policy is needed to clarify the risk of disease to the public and recommendations on vaccination.
The Declaration of Helsinki was recently revised to require that the control arm of a trial use the current standard of care, even if that standard is not generally available in developing nations where the research is being conducted.
The authors of a systematic review of 130 clinical trials conclude that there is no justification for the use of placebos as therapeutic treatment outside of clinical trials.
A newspaper reporter who was a live organ donor for his childhood friend relates the impact first-hand reporting of the experience had on his life as well as the public.
An article from a 2002 issue of JAMA discusses competence as a form of professionalism, and suggests that a commitment to competence and excellence is a way of ensuring ethical behavior and improving the physician-patient relationship.