Medical Responsibilities
Provident Hospital took on the responsibility of providing care to any patient who was in need regardless of economic or social status. "The legal papers were drawn up in 1891 for 'Provident Hospital and Training School Association' and the charter stated: 'The object for which it is formed is to maintain a hospital and training school for nurses in the City of Chicago, Illinois, for the gratuitous treatment of the medical and surgical diseases of the sick poor."' -The Provident Foundation
Physician's Medical Responsibility
"Physicians' Ethical Responsibilities in Addressing Racial and Ethnic Healthcare Disparities"
[Click on photo to enlarge article from JNMA]
[Click on photo to enlarge article from JNMA]
The AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs Opinion 9.121, Racial Disparities in Health Care
A Professional's Responsibility to a Patient, according to the AMA |
"Even if disparities in care are subtle differences that are difficult to identify in a small mix of patients, such as a single medical practice or even a hospital may see, the reality of the problem is too large to ignore. The existence of ethnic and racial disparities needs to be acknowledged, and this acknowledgment carries the responsibility of action to work for the elimination of disparities. Physicians operate under an ethical edict that in very clear terms sets out how they must respond to this problem. Disparities in medical care based on immutable characteristics such as race must be avoided. Whether such disparities in health care are caused by treatment decisions, differences in income and education, sociocultural factors, or failures by the medical profession, they are unjustifiable and must be eliminated. Physicians should examine their own practices to ensure that racial prejudice does not affect clinical judgment in medical care." -AMA
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Establishing Medicare and Medicaid
Social Security Act Amendments: Medicare and MedicaidThe Government took responsibility for providing medical care,"This act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965, in Independence, MO. It established Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health insurance program for the poor." -OurDocuments.gov
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