Sterilization of Women Including Those With Mental Disabilities

Number 371

(Reaffirmed 2009)

ABSTRACT: Sterilization, like any other surgical procedure, must be carried out under the general ethical principles of respect for autonomy, beneficence, and justice. Women requesting sterilization ...

Institutional Responsibility to Provide Legal Representation

Number 370

(Reaffirmed 2012)

ABSTRACT: Hospitals, academic institutions, professional corporations, and other health care organizations should have policies and procedures by which alleged violations of professional behavior can...

Seeking and Giving Consultation

Number 365

ABSTRACT: Consultations usually are sought when practitioners with primary clinical responsibility recognize conditions or situations that are beyond their level of expertise or available resources. ...

Patents Medicine and the Interests of Patients

Number 364

(Reaffirmed 2009)

ABSTRACT: Many basic scientists and clinicians support the right to obtain and enforce patents on drugs, diagnostic tests, medical devices, and most recently, genes. Although those who develop useful...

Patient Testing Ethical Issues in Selection and Counseling

Number 363

(Reaffirmed 2012)

ABSTRACT: Recommendations to patients about testing should be based on current medical knowledge, a concern for the patient's best interests, and mutual consultation. In addition to establishing a di...

Medical Futility

Number 362

(Reaffirmed 2008)

ABSTRACT: The construct of medical futility has been used to justify a physician's unilateral refusal to provide treatment requested or demanded by a patient or the family of a patient. It is importa...

Sex Selection

Number 360

(Reaffirmed 2011)

ABSTRACT: In this Committee Opinion, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Ethics presents various ethical considerations and arguments relevant to both prefertilizati...

Commercial Enterprises in Medical Practice

Number 359

(Reaffirmed 2011)

ABSTRACT: Increasing numbers of physicians sell and promote both medical and nonmedical products as part of their practices. Physicians always have rendered advice and treatment for a fee, and this p...

Innovative Practice - Ethical Guidelines

Number 352

(Reaffirmed 2012)

ABSTRACT: Innovations in medical practice are critical to the advancement of medicine. Good clinicians constantly adapt and modify their clinical approaches in ways they believe will benefit patients...

Using Preimplantation Embryos for Research

Number 347

(Reaffirmed 2008)

ABSTRACT: Human embryonic stem cell research promises an increased understanding of the molecular process underlying cell differentiation. Transplantation of embryonic stem cells or their derivatives...

Maternal Decision Making Ethics and the Law

Number 321

ABSTRACT: Recent legal actions and policies aimed at protecting the fetus as an entity separate from the woman have challenged the rights of pregnant women to make decisions about medical interventio...

Partner Consent for Participation in Women's Reproductive Health Research

Number 307

(Reaffirmed 2008)

ABSTRACT: Recent advances in reproductive medicine include treatment of subfertility as well as investigation of agents that may serve as both contraceptives and potential prophylaxis against sexuall...

Nonmedical use of Obstetric Ultrasonography

Number 297

(Reaffirmed 2012)

ABSTRACT: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has endorsed the "Prudent Use" statement from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) discouraging the use of ...