ABSTRACT
Ethical guidelines in medicine are in a state of flux at the time of this writing. The American Medical Association (AMA) revised its Principles of Medical Ethics in 2001 (hereafter Principles). The American Psychiatric Association (APA) bases its Annotations on the AMA Principles. The previous AMA Principles remain relevant in the most recent revision that has made relatively minor changes to the existing Principles. However, the latest version of the APA guidelines does not incorporate the two new principles that were added, or the revisions in language of the existing principles. The APA is in the process of revising its Annotations and Opinions to be consonant with the revised AMA Principles. The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL) developed its ethical guidelines to be consistent with the AMA Principles and APA Annotations. The AAPL Committee on Ethics currently also is revising its ethical guidelines to be consistent with the new AMA Principles. Reference should be made to the revised AAPL guidelines as well as to APA Annotations and Opinions as soon as they become available. Nevertheless, the overwhelming number of existing guidelines should still be relevant for the foreseeable future.
