American Academy of Medical Ethics
Promoting the interests of medical educators, medical practitioners and scientists, care and well-being of patients, protection of public health, and betterment of the medical profession, and to protect and promote the historical values that have provided the longstanding foundation for Western healthcare.
What We Do
We serve patients, healthcare professionals and our culture by:
- Serving as an ethical voice to speak to the government, media, church and public on ethical issues facing the healthcare profession today
- Offering resources you can use to educate yourself and others about important issues affecting both healthcare professionals and their patients
- Fighting against the legalization of physician-assisted suicide through grassroots efforts in states across the country
- Arranging and conducting educational conferences, speeches, interviews and research in the fields of ethics, medicine and science
- Teaching traditional values through scholarly endeavors
- Networking healthcare professionals who share these values
Ethical Issues
Abortion
As healthcare professionals dedicated to saving and protecting human life, we affirm that all human life has special value derived from being a part of the human family. The value of human life is independent of an individual person’s genotype, developmental stage, age, sex, ethnicity, place of origin, disability, or perceived worth.
Advance Directives
Whereas modern medicine has made available technologies that can prolong life, medical science alone cannot answer questions of whether life-sustaining technologies should be used in particular circumstances or whether such technologies are consistent with patients’ goals of care, values, and beliefs about health, life, and death.
Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
Since the time of Hippocrates, a fundamental tenet of medical ethics, a cornerstone of professionalism, and an expectation of the public, has been that those who profess to accept the responsibilities of providing healthcare do not deliberately kill their patients.
Cloning
The cloning of any human being is morally and ethically wrong. Cloning humans for any reason, including birth or research, should be opposed. Cloning of DNA, cells or anything else that does not create a new human life is acceptable. Every step in enhancing the human cloning technique brings us one step closer to the birth of a cloned baby. Cloning of humans would require the creation and destruction of human life. New humans would be created and destroyed in massive numbers for scientific research.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Embryonic stem cell research is unethical and unnecessary. Medical technology must be subjected to moral scrutiny. Our technology is developing faster than our ethics. A utilitarian plan to sacrifice a few humans for the good of many is simply immoral. And as history demonstrates, sanctioning a value judgment on the worth of human life is never contained to a single circumstance.
Healthcare Institution’s Right of Conscience
Respect for conscientiously held beliefs of individuals and for individual differences is an essential aspect of our free society. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
Healthcare Professional Trainee’s Right of Conscience
Respect for conscientiously held beliefs of individuals and for individual differences is an essential aspect of our free society. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
Healthcare Professional’s Right of Conscience
Respect for conscientiously held beliefs of individuals and for individual differences is an essential aspect of our free society. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
Homosexuality
Homosexuality has negative effects on the practicing individual and society. Compared to the general population, homosexuals are at an elevated risk for a variety of adverse health and mental health outcomes. The Gay Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) describes the following detrimental effects associated with same-sex sexual practice: higher rates of HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, depression/anxiety, hepatitis, sexually transmitted illnesses (anal papilloma/HPV, gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia), certain cancers, alcohol abuse, tobacco use, eating disorders and (in subsets) obesity.
Issues
Since the time of Hippocrates, a fundamental tenet of medical ethics, a cornerstone of professionalism, and an expectation of the public, has been that those who profess to accept the responsibilities of providing healthcare do not deliberately kill their patients.
Marijuana
The term “medical marijuana” refers to the insufficiently regulated use of the whole, unprocessed marijuana plant or its extracts to treat symptoms of illness and other conditions. Note that pharmaceutical-grade medications from components of the marijuana plant have been developed according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, but these medications are distinct from what is classified here as “medical marijuana.”
Medical Marijuana
The American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME) has developed this policy on “medical marijuana” based on the Hippocratic tradition and the most recent scientific evidence.
Moral Complicity
Moral complicity with evil is culpable association with or participation in wrongful acts. Evil is defined as anything immoral or wrong based on various religious texts. Questions about moral complicity with evil can arise in regard to an individual’s relationship to or involvement with past, present or future evil.
Patient’s Right of Conscience
Respect for conscientiously held beliefs of individuals and for individual differences is an essential aspect of our free society. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
Recreational Marijuana
The American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME) has developed this policy on “recreational marijuana” based on the Hippocratic tradition and the most recent scientific evidence.
Reproductive Technology
Married couples may choose to seek assisted reproductive technology, especially when they are unable to have children naturally. We encourage couples to seek counsel and guidance when considering these technologies. However, certain assisted reproductive technologies present direct and indirect dangers to the sanctity of human life and family.
Resources
As healthcare professionals dedicated to saving and protecting human life, we affirm that all human life has special value derived from being a part of the human family. The value of human life is independent of an individual person’s genotype, developmental stage, age, sex, ethnicity, place of origin, disability, or perceived worth.
Sexuality
Respect for conscientiously-held beliefs of individuals and for individual differences is an essential aspect of our free society. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority."
State Advocacy
Your voice matters! Our advocacy team is committed to promoting the highest ethical standard in healthcare, but we can’t do it without you. Let your lawmakers know you want to back healthcare legislation that fosters human flourishing without compromising human dignity.
Transgender Identification
The American Academy of Medical Ethics (AAME) affirms the historic understanding of humankind as consisting of two sexes, male and female. The AAME has concerns about recent usage of the term “gender” to emphasize an identity other than one’s biological sex, that is, a sense of self based on subjective feelings or desires of identifying more strongly with the opposite sex or with some combination of male and female.