Upholding Ethics in Organized Psychiatry: The Contributions of Empirical Bioethics
Channel: HMS Center for Bioethics
Date: 2021-10-29

The practice of psychiatry raises unique ethical challenges, with new ethical demands frequently emerging in moments of social and political crisis. Consider, for example, the recent resurgence of dialogue around racial determinants of health and the Goldwater Rule prohibiting diagnostic statements about public figures.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA), the largest and most influential professional psychiatric organization globally, holds an important role setting and monitoring ethical and professional norms to guide its nearly 38,000 psychiatrist members.  

How does the APA fulfill this crucial role, and what can other organizations and communities facing controversies of professionalism, violence, racism, and political upheaval learn from its approach? In this session of the Organizational Ethics Consortium, members of the APA’s Ethics Committee discuss the APA’s approach to ethics oversight, focusing on its use of data to keep the organization responsive to evolving ethics themes. Presenters will share recent empirical work examining APA’s ethics process, discuss the role of empirical bioethics in organizational ethics, and consider how similar approaches can shed light on broader challenges like inequity and social polarization. 

Organizational Ethics Consortia
October 22, 2021

Presented by:
Michelle Hume, MD, PhD 
Philip Candilis, MD, DFAPA
Donna T. Chen, MD, MPH
Jeremy Lazarus, MD

Learn more about the Organizational Ethics Consortia at https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/events/weekly-consortia/organizational-ethics-consortia