TOG : Revista de Terapia Ocupacional de la APGTO (Dec 2004)
Ethical principles in occupational therapy intervention
Abstract
For 2,500 years, the medical profession has created a body of ethical principles. Adapting to differeft historical and sociological circumstances, it has driven the practice of health professionals and constitutes a compilation of the rights and duties of doctors and patients.These principles represent the embryo of an emergening human science known as Bioethics. From the impulse of the scientific paradigm, a set of tasks and cares that were included in what was called charity started to be classified in a group of new proffesions devoted to the "methodical" care of patients and the underprivileged. Several new professions sprung up, including Occupational Therapy. From then on, the practice of the occupational therapist has remained protected by ethical principles that have traditionally monitored and driven the medical practice.This article first summarizes the historical evolution of the different ethical codes used by health professionals, emphasizing those aspects with a greater influence in the configuration of the ethical codes connected with occupational therapy.Secondly, we analyse the way occupational therapy has integrated the ethical principles of the medical practice in its own intervention. The main ethical guidelines used in the field are the ones proposed by the American Association of Occupational Therapy (AOTA), the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT), and the Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC).Finally, we point out some of the difficulties and bioethcal challenges faced by occupational therapists
