As the Chief Medical Editor for Orthopedics Today, Dr. Anthony Romeo publishes an editorial article in each issue. We have been featuring these articles over the past few weeks.
One of his recent articles is entitled “Team Physicians Must Balance Conflict of Interest”. The article discusses conflicted decision-making, moral concerns, controversy, quality of care, and the ‘duty’ of team physicians.
In writing about the ‘duty’ of team physicians, Dr. Anthony Romeo says, “To be effective clinicians, we must persuade our athletes, and the people who counsel them, that they can trust us with their care. We can look at the principles of persuasion as written by Aristotle, and summarized by the motto, ‘Ethos, Logos, Pathos.’
‘Ethos’ is about character. We must have a strong moral and ethical code to keep an athlete’s health at the center of our decision-making. ‘Logos’ is about achieving and maintaining competence. We must stay current with methods of nonsurgical and surgical care, and we need to organize and maintain the competence of the entire medical team. For ‘Pathos,’ we need to be passionate about the care we provide our athletes, with a conviction to do what is best for them, as well as maintain compassion for their human spirit.”
Dr. Anthony Romeo is a team physician for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.
