Physician organizations have an ethical obligation to advocate for general improvement of public health, even if it is sometimes at the expense of interests of medical professionals.
Mark McClellan, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, discusses pharmaceutical company research and the problems faced by funding for public health programs.
The medical profession has the responsibility and obligation in effective self-regulation to ensure the competence of practicing physicians, identifying and taking action against problem physicians, and regulating conflicts of interest.
The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics' contains a large collection of opinions regarding organ donation and transplantation that continue to shape the ethics discussion surrounding these topics.