AMA Journal of Ethics^®

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics’ opinions on the physician as businessperson.

While critics of section 6001 of the ACA warn that it will debilitate an important competitive force in the marketplace, it does not categorically eliminate further development of the physician-owned hospital industry.

Some question whether plastic surgeons bear responsibility for promoting suspect norms of beauty, given that certain types of cosmetic enhancements reinforce common conceptions of normality that are harmful to society.

Is our generation of physicians somehow “weaker” because we’d rather not spend our entire lives at the office? Physicians who trained and practiced under more grueling conditions wonder how we expect to be competent physicians if we don’t work at it?

The question is whether the medi-spa is a consumer-driven, profit-motivated business that happens to fall under the purview of medical practice or a legitimate and integral part of the health care system? Does it fulfill consumers’ desires or relieve suffering and promote wellness?