E-9.025 Patient Advocacy for Change in Law and Policy
Physicians may participate in individual acts, grassroots
activities, or legally permissible collective action to advocate for
change, as provided for in the AMA’s Principles of Medical
Ethics. Whenever engaging in advocacy efforts, physicians ...12... ensure that the health of patients is not jeopardized and
that patient care is not compromised.
Formal unionization of physicians, and including
physicians-in-training, may tie physicians’ obligations to the
interests of workers who may not share physicians’ primary and
overriding commitment to patients and the public health.
Physicians should not form workplace alliances with those who
do not share these ethical priorities.
Strikes and other collective action may reduce access to
care, eliminate or delay necessary care, and interfere with
continuity of care. Each of these consequences raises ethical
concerns. Physicians should refrain from the use of the strike as
a bargaining tactic. In rare circumstances, individual or
grassroots actions, such as brief limitations of personal
availability, may be appropriate as a means of calling attention
to needed changes in patient care. Physicians are cautioned
that some actions may put them or their organizations at risk of
violating antitrust laws. Consultation with legal counsel is
advised.
Physicians and physicians-in-training should press for
needed reforms through the use of informational campaigns,
non-disruptive public demonstrations, lobbying and publicity
campaigns, and collective negotiation, or other options that do
not jeopardize the health of patients or compromise patient care.
(Adapted from
htpp://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/38/a-05ceja.pdf)