Additions to the ACS “Statements on Principles”
Proposed by the Committee on Women’s Issues 
and the Association of Women Surgeons

1.         Fellows of the American College of Surgeons will treat everyone in the health care setting with respect, avoiding displays of uncontrolled anger, abuse, intimidation, or ridicule.

2.         Fellows of the American College of Surgeons who become temporarily impaired by illness or injury, alcohol, fatigue, or other conditions that affect surgical judgment or performance will arrange for a qualified colleague to assume their clinical responsibilities until their impairment has resolved.

3.         Fellows of the American College of Surgeons who have intimate personal relationships with individuals at their workplace will minimize their supervisory responsibilities with those individuals and will not participate in their evaluation processes.

4.         Fellows of the American College of Surgeons will neither engage in nor condone any sexual harassment or other forms of harassment that contribute to an uncomfortable, ineffective, or hostile workplace.

5.         Fellows of the American College of Surgeons have an obligation to act if they notice unethical conduct in another fellow. If directly approaching the Fellow or local institutional procedures is insufficient to resolve the problem, this obligation includes reporting to the College (see III, I in ACS Principles).

Revised  July 2003 

Click here for a PowerPoint presentation with background on the development of the Code of Conduct.