WMA Council Resolution to Uphold the Ethical Framework of Healthcare

Adopted by the 229th WMA Council Session, Montevideo, Uruguay, April 2025

PREAMBLE

Pillars of medicine which were until recently considered unquestionable, such as scientific evidence, human dignity and solidarity, are being increasingly challenged by the expansion of ideologies and political positions that reject or deny them.

In this context, the ability of physicians to work ethically and to follow the rules of the profession is threatened, as is also the autonomy of the profession; the intervention of politics, of the judiciary system or of the police in the care process is increasingly becoming a reality in many parts of the world.

The pressure exists on physicians being forced by their governments to treat detained patients in an unethical manner. There is also outright violence against healthcare personnel and healthcare facilities in areas with armed conflicts and other emergencies.

Pressure put on the professional autonomy of the physicians and on their ability to follow their ethical rules can negatively impact the quality of the care provided, and can finally compromise the population’s trust in the profession.

The World Medical Association was founded with the explicit aim of setting the highest ethical and humanist standards for medicine throughout the world.

These standards are being challenged by ideologies and political stances that reject the societal achievements of the last 80 years.

These high ethical and humanist standards must, however, forcefully continue to be upheld by the medical profession with clear determination and strength.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The World Medical Association and all its Constituent Members are strongly committed to upholding the ethical standards of the medical profession, as they have been established by the profession itself during the last 80 years.
2. It is an essential role of the WMA and of its Constituent Members to advocate for a legal framework for healthcare in all our countries, which respects the ethical rules of our profession and allows practicing medicine according to them.
3. The WMA urges governments to secure the safety and lives of health care personnel whatever the actual circumstances, thereby enabling them to fulfill their duty to help any patient in need and act according to their ethical principles.
4. The WMA must actively advocate for the honor of the medical profession and the rights of medical personnel and of the patients wherever these are under threat.
5. It is the duty of the WMA and of all its Constituent Members to support individual physicians and their organizations whenever their ability to follow the ethical rules set by the WMA is threatened or limited by undue political or judiciary pressure.
6. The World Medical Association and all its Constituent Members strongly support and foster scientific, fact-based medicine, including evidence-based therapeutic and public health measures.
7. The World Medical Association calls for respect for the independence of research, in accordance with the ethical principles imbedded in its Declaration of Helsinki.