5032.0: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 - 9:30 AM
Abstract #26936
Assumption of material responsibility by the health professions
Andrew Jameton, PhD, Shireen Rajaram, PhD, Christina Kerby Kessinger, MS, MPA, and Working Group of the Exploring Bioethics Upstream Project. Department of Preventive & Societal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 986075 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6075, 402-559-4680, ajameton@unmc.edu
To what extent do health-care professions explicitly accept "material responsibility" for health care practices? The concept of "material responsibility" includes conserving material and energy resources, limiting financial costs, and reducing environmental pollution. This paper approaches this question by surveying the main health-care ethics codes. It also reviews draft revisions and comments by selected members of code oversight committees. The 20th century was marked by a vast increase in public awareness of environmental problems. Meanwhile, the bioethics literature gives extremely cautious support to material responsibility, due to a concern for dedicated, high-quality individual patient care. Reasons why health professionals should accept material responsibility include:
- Efficiency is a component of professional expertise.
- Public health requires a healthy ecosystem.
- The U.S. health care system is extraordinarily expensive both financially and materially.
Association statements increasingly include references to conservation. The paper reviews these statements, their origins and interpretations. Where statements have not yet been written, a brief history of the reasons for exclusion are reviewed. Covered professional associations include selected clinical, public health, and allied health fields. Non-clinical health professions, especially those concerned with maintenance, architecture, purchasing, and materials services are also covered. This is not a purely empirical study. The authors are advocates of material responsibility as an essential dimension of professional
integrity. It is hoped that the process of conducting this study is encouraging professional groups to address environmental and financial limits more responsibly. See www.unmc.edu/green
Learning Objectives:
- To define "material responsibility", and
- Describe its expression in current ethics codes.
Keywords: Environment, Ethics
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA