Abstract
This paper examines the moral responsibilities of physicians, toward themselves and their colleagues, their students and patients, and society, in terms of the nature and exercise of professional self-regulation. Some of the author's “close encounters” with cases involving research misconduct, behavioral impairment or deviance, and medical practice at “the moral margin,” are described to illustrate why, in Freidson's words, physicians are a “delinquent community” with respect to the ways they meet their responsibility to govern the competence and conduct of their members.
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Judith P. Swazey, president of The Acadia Insttute, is co-author of The Courage to Fail: A Social View of Organ Transplants and Hemodialysis and co-editor of several books on medical responsibility. The include Human Aspects of Biomedical Innovation, Social Controls and the Medical Profession and Whistleblowing in Biomedical Research: Policies and Procedures for Responding to Reports of Misconduct. Her Ph.D. in the history of science.
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Swazey, J.P. Are physicians a “delinquent community”?: Issues in professional competence, conduct, and self-regulation. J Bus Ethics 10, 581–590 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382876
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382876