Ethics & Professional Conduct
1. Confidentiality
A physician life care planner exercises appropriate confidentiality at all times, and a physician life care planner exercises abundant discretion when dealing with personal and/or protected health information (PHI).
A physician life care planner complies with appropriate local, state and federal regulations regarding the handling, use, and dissemination of confidential information, and he/she shares such information with others on a need-to-know basis.
2. Objectivity
A physician life care planner has an ethical, moral, and professional obligation which is narrow and specific: to objectively assess the physical and/or mental conditions of ill/injured individuals, and to objectively identify those medically-related goods and services he or she believes—based upon his or her education, training, skill, professional experience, and a reasonable degree of medical probability—will be required by those individuals in order to accomplish the Clinical Objectives of Life Care Planning.
It is not the ethical, moral or professional obligation of a physician life care planner to advocate for the positions, beliefs or desired outcomes any clients, to advocate for the individuals who are the subjects of their life care plans, or to bias their opinions in any way, or for any reason.
3. Non Discrimination
The physician life care planner does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, age, gender, ethnic background, religious beliefs/practices, social or economic status, life-style choices, functional status, or the nature of an individual’s health status, impairment, and/or disability.
4. Dual or Multiple Relationships
A physician life care planner avoids situations in which he/she assumes duel relationships, i.e. situations in which the physician life care planner would be in the position of developing a life care plan for friends or family members, i.e. situations in which a physician life care planner’s objectivity may be adversely affected.
A physician life care planner also strives to avoid serving as both a life care planner, and as a treating physician for the same individual. In cases in which a duel relationship of this nature exists—and from time to time they may—a physician life care planner proactively, overtly and unambiguously discloses the existence of his/her duel role, and any remunerative benefit that may potentially accrue to the physician life care planner as a result of his or her work.
5. Advisement of Role
A physician life care planner informs the subject of any life care plan about his/her role as a life care planner, about who is requesting the life care plan, about what the objectives of the life care plan are, as well as how the information the subject provides, or how the information the physician life care planner obtains during his/her personal interview and examination of the subject, will be used by the physician life care planner.
In cases in which dual or multiple relationships exist, e.g. in cases in which the physician life care planner is also acting as a treating physician to the subject, the physician life care planner clearly explains the responsibilities and boundaries of each of his/her discrete roles when acting within each of these capacities.
6. Professional Conduct
A physician life care planner performs his/her duties of a life care planner with objectivity, honesty, personal accountability and respect. A physician life care planner does not knowingly engage in unlawful or unethical behavior or professional practices, nor does he/she knowingly pursue personal benefit through non-objective formulation of their professional opinions.
A physician life care planner recognizes that his/her conduct and behavior affects, not only his/her personal reputation, but the reputation of other life care planning practitioners, as well as the discipline of life care planning itself, and thereby comports him/herself appropriately/professionally.
7. Ownership & Personal Responsibility
A physician life care planner acknowledges that each life care plan addresses a unique set of circumstances and demands a unique set of requirements, and a physician life care planner assumes complete ownership, accountability and personal responsibility for the entirety of his/her life care plan, including all of its objective findings, medical opinions and recommendations, and quantitative conclusions.
8. Adherence to Other Applicable Professional Standards
A Certified Physician Life Care Planner (CPLCP) adheres to the ethical and professional requirements of the American Academy of Physician Life Care Planners, and to the ethical and professional requirements of their respective professions and/or other licenses/credentials, e.g. Certified Life Care Planners adhere to the ethical and professional standards of the International Commission on Health Care Certification (ICHCC); physiatrists who are life care planners adhere to the professional and ethical requirements of their medical licensing boards, as well as the ethical and professional standards of American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as to any other organizations which govern their respective credentials.