Virtual Mentor. November 2001, Volume 3, Number 11.

Strengthening the Social Contract

One of the challenges the profession faces in shaping medicine's future, presented as part of VM's two-year commemorative issue.

Strengthening the Social Contract acknowledges that disparity in health has social as well as medical causes and explores ways to strengthen the cooperation between medicine and society at a time when social institutions of all sorts are faced with growing public cynicism.

Professionalism Reaffirmed - by Audiey Kao. MD, PhD
Physician-citizens have an ethical and social duty to address the disparities in access to health care worldwide.

Genetic Differences: Unfair or Only Unfortunate? - by Faith Lagay, PhD>
Genetic information is redefining what society and the medical profession considers to be normal and what departures from the norm are deserving of medical intervention.

Protecting the Public: Profile of Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey - by Karen Geraghty, PhD
Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, who reviewed and twice rejected a drug application for Thalidomide while working at the FDA, is credited for protecting pregnant women in the US and their unborn children.

AMA President's Inaugural Address, 1943 - by James E. Paullin, MD
The AMA President’s Inaugural Address in 1943 describes a global war environment and encourages the medical community as a whole to cooperate in the postwar rehabilitation of society.

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