In response to concerns raised by Diplomates and the public regarding COVID-19 disinformation, the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) have issued a joint statement to physicians, reminding them of their responsibility to individual and public health by providing factual and evidence-based information. The personal and professional conduct policy of ABFM’s Guidelines for Professionalism, Licensure, and Personal Conduct contains two sub-sections specifically detailing these responsibilities:
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- Sub-section 5.2. – Demonstrate Honesty with Patients. The ability of patients to make or consent to decisions about their medical treatment requires that patients be fully and honestly informed by their physicians and that the physicians not provide any false or misleading information to patients…
- Sub-section 5.3. – Demonstrate Honesty with the Public. Not unlike the requirement that the physician be honest with patients, information provided by physicians to the public must be provided in a factual, honest and non-misleading manner, in keeping with the prevailing science.
