Physicians need to understand when it may be appropriate to let patients get involved in medical decision-making and when it may be necessary to provide their personal medical judgment.
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 concept of professionalism in medicine has been expanded over the years to cover a broad set of ideas about everyday behavior and habits of physicians.
The medical student believes that the art of doctoring is learned continuously over time and cannot be assessed in a proposed medical school examination.
Three reports considered by the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs are described, along with the process for revising the AMA's Code of Medical Ethics and trivia about contraceptive use.