EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 5 P.M., EST, MARCH 31, 1998
CONTACT:
Susan Anderson, (215) 351-2653 or (800) 523-1546, ext. 2653
From April 1 to April 5, San Diego Convention Center, (619) 525-6218
ACP Releases Fourth Edition of Its Respected Ethics Manual
PHILADELPHIA -- (April 1, 1998) The American College of Physicians (ACP) today published the fourth edition of its Ethics Manual. The ACP Ethics Manual appears in the April 1, 1998, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, published by ACP.
The new Ethics Manual revisits issues of earlier editions, such as the physician-patient relationship, confidentiality, physician advertising and alternative medicine. It contains major revisions of sections on decisions near the end of life, including physician-assisted suicide. New sections cover emerging issues such as managed care, organ donation, genetic testing and population-based health care.
The manual was written primarily for internists, doctors of internal medicine, but it has been widely used by other physicians and is often cited in medical and ethical literature. The first ACP manual was published in 1984. Updates are needed, "because the environment of medicine changes. We're affected by technology, economic forces and the public's growing concerns about health care," says Lloyd W, Kitchens, MD, chair of the ACP ethics and human rights committee that developed the current manual.
The ACP manual does not provide a code to cover every conceivable situation faced by internists and their patients, Kitchens says. "We try to show how fundamental principles extend to new concerns. And this edition contains a new appendix outlining eight practical steps a physician can take to clarify ethical issues faced in practice."
The fourth revision of the Ethics Manual was developed by the ACP ethics and human rights committee, which worked on the manual for a year and a half. Sections were reviewed by more than 60 individual reviewers. The manual was approved by the ACP Board of Regents in October 1997.
The April 1 issue of Annals also contains invited editorials on the new Ethics Manual by medical ethicists from three generations: Edmund D. Pelligrino, MD, an internist and professor of medicine and ethics at the Center for Biomedical Ethics in Washington; Arthur L. Caplan, PhD, a medical ethicist and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania; and Susan Dorr Goold, MD, MHSA, an internist and associate director for ethics and health policy, University of Michigan Health System.
For further information about the ACP Ethics Manual, call Lois Snyder, JD, ACP counsel for ethics and legal affairs (215-351-2835). The ACP Ethics Manual is available on ACP's website, www.acponline.org/journals/annals.htm beginning April 1, 1998. A printed, pocket-sized version will be available June 1, 1998, from ACP customer service (215-351-2600; product # 330300670; Price: $8 for ACP members; $10 for non-members).
# # #
NOTE to Editors: Reporters can obtain a copy of the manual as published in Annals of Internal Medicine, April 1, 1998, from the ACP communications department (215-351-2656).
RSS