ETHICALMOMENT: WHAT SHOULD I CONSIDER IN ESTABLISHING A COMPONENT DENTAL ETHICS COMMITTEE?

摘要

I've been asked to help set up and serve on an ethics committee for my component dental society. We have never had one at the local level, and our state committee is pretty inactive. I have never really giyen ethics much thought, but now I need to understand enough to explain to others the reason for ethics, professionalism and the procedures to make ethics work. Can you help me? Many migh argue that a code of ethics is, in large part, that which separates a profession from a trade. A profession maybe defined as an occupation that properly involves a high level of scientific or artistic skill or an advanced educational-degree. A trade, on the other hand, describes a business, especially a skilled handicraft. The premise on which dental ethics is based is a social contract between the public and the dental profession. The introduction to the American Dental Association Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional ponduct (ADA Code) states that "society affords the profession [dentistry] certain privileges that are not available to members of the public-at-large. In return, the profession makes a commitment to society that its members will adhere to high ethical standards of conduct." The ADA Code goes on to state that "[t]he ADA Code is, in effect, a written expression of the obligations arising from the implied contract between the dental profession and society." It also is important to understand that by recognizing the education and training of dentists, society has afforded the profession the privilege and obligation of self-government.