Balancing the Needs of Society and the Individual Patient

In line with the Oath of Hippocrates, the American Medical Association (AMA) code of ethics states that the duty to advocate for the patient is paramount. However, many instances in healthcare expose a discrepancy between the needs of society and the needs of individual patients. Given that society is merely a collection of individuals, one's personal physician is uniquely qualified to devise solutions that can resolve that conflict. This essay will discuss the potential overreach of public health interventions and solutions that ethically serve societal interests to help physicians maintain their duty to individual patients' health and confidentiality.