The AMA submitted commentary on the revised Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia to the Medical Board of Australia.
The AMA’s President Dr Tony Bartone stated that the “Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia (2018)” includes several vague and unclear statements which would likely cause difficulties for doctors in complying with their ethical and professional requirements under the Code.
The AMA found section 2.1- Professional values and qualities of doctors to be particularly problematic, as this appears to restrict the public commentary of doctors. It also outlined that doctors must comply with relevant laws such as the Border Force Act 2015 (Cth) which previously threatened imprisonment for whistle-blowers. This was deemed to oppose doctor’s code in relation to acting in the patient’s best interests and make this their primary concern.
For the AMA’s general and specific comments please click here.