This is a preprint of an announcement that has been submitted for publication in the September/October AAPM Newsletter
AAPM Code of Ethics Approved
By Chris Serago
At the annual meeting in Houston, the Board of Directors (BOD) approved a code of ethics for the AAPM. The code was previously approved by the ethics committee (ET) and professional council (PC). The code was drafted by task group 109, and also been reviewed by AAPM’s legal counsel. TG-109 solicited comments from the general membership, ET, PC, and the BOD. Some of the text below is directly from the code.
The charge of TG-109 was to write a comprehensive code of ethics for members and corporate affiliates of the AAPM, consolidating previous AAPM ethics policies into a unified document. The new code replaces the following AAPM policies: Ethical Guidelines for Vacating a Position (PP 4-B); Ethical Guidelines for Reviewing the Work of Another Physicist (PP 5-C); Guidelines for Ethical Practice for Medical Physicists (PP 8-D); and Ethics Complaint Procedure (PP 21-A).
The code of ethics is not a set of laws, but standards of ethical conduct by which all members and corporate affiliates are expected to abide. The Principles of the code of ethics are core values to aid all members and affiliates act in an ethically professional manner. The code includes Guidelines that are intended to assist members and affiliates to interpret and implement the Principles.
The full text of the code of ethics may be found on the AAPM website under Medical Physicist/Code of Ethics.