Invited article: professionalism in neurology: the role of law.
Professionalism may be defined as the obligation of the physician to uphold the primacy of patients' interests, to achieve and maintain medical competency, and to abide by high ethical standards. Recent commentary has suggested that medical professionalism is being threatened by commercialism and the legal system. Consideration of judicial rulings centered on primacy of patients' interests (informed consent, end-of-life care, and conflicts of interest), medical competence (standard of care in medical malpractice cases, medical futility cases, and confidentiality of peer review), and enforcement of ethical standards (peer review by professional organizations) demonstrates that the law generally defers to standards set by the medical profession, but competing views over what health care model is operative may generate non-deferential outcomes.
Department of Neurology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA. dgl6t@virginia.edu
Dan
D
Larriviere
H Richard
HR
Beresford
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009462:Neurology / Q000941:ethics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards