The American Medical Association treads lightly in policing doctors who sexually abuse patients.
Twenty-six years ago, the nation’s largest medical society declared sexual misconduct to be a breach of medical ethics, but since then has remained all but mute on the subject.
The AMA counsels doctors that sex and “romantic contact” with patients is wrong.
Yet the association does not favor the automatic revocation of the medical license of every doctor who commits sexual abuse of a patient. It has fought to keep confidential a federal database of physicians disciplined for sexual misconduct and other transgressions.
The AMA’s approach to sexual misconduct underscores the findings of a national investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. No one in the medical profession condones sexual abuse by doctors. But silence, secrecy and inconsistent consequences have created a system that puts patients at risk by protecting doctors who abuse.
Read the full story from the AJC’s Doctors & Sex Abuse investigation on doctors.ajc.com
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