Professional Responsibility and the Responsibility of Professions

Editor\u27s note: This paper was read at the eighth annual University of Dayton Philosophy Colloquium, held in 1979. If one studies the statements emerging from those organizations which undertake to speak for professions, one is struck by the codes of ethics and canons of professional responsibility which appear so frequently as to make them seem almost the hallmark of professionalism itself These codes appear to be based on the assumption that some actions can merit one assessment if undertaken by a certain professional, but another assessment if undertaken by some other person. For a philosopher, perhaps the most interesting thing about professions is their suggestion that there somehow exist certain special justifiable standards for the conduct of a certain class of persons. At least two questions are raised. First, one wonders what might be the justification for these special standards? And second, one wants to know how it is possible to delineate the proper dimensions of these special standards and to assess the magnitude of the claim that they have upon professionals. These are, I submit, the two most important philosophical issues that arise in the field of professional ethics. It is the aim here to map an approach to them. The argument here presented is an attempt to show how distinctive responsibilities of the individual professional can be understood in terms of the responsibility of his or her profession, taken as a whole. In the first section, I will be developing a concept of responsibility that is fundamental in this context. In the second, I will show how professions can come to have such responsibilities. Finally, I will sketch the relationship between the responsibilities of professions and the responsibilities of professionals

Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of Persons 50 to 71 Years Old

Background Obesity, defined by a body-mass index (BMI) (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 30.0 or more, is associated with an increased risk of death, but the relation between overweight (a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9) and the risk of death has been questioned. Methods We prospectively examined BMI in relation to the risk of death from any cause in 527,265 U.S. men and women in the National Institutes of Health–AARP cohort who were 50 to 71 years old at enrollment in 1995–1996. BMI was calculated from selfreported weight and height. Relative risks and 95 percent confidence intervals were adjusted for age, race or ethnic group, level of education, smoking status, physical activity, and alcohol intake. We also conducted alternative analyses to address potential biases related to preexisting chronic disease and smoking status. Results During a maximum follow-up of 10 years through 2005, 61,317 participants (42,173 men and 19,144 women) died. Initial analyses showed an increased risk of death for the highest and lowest categories of BMI among both men and women, in all racial or ethnic groups, and at all ages. When the analysis was restricted to healthy people who had never smoked, the risk of death was associated with both overweight and obesity among men and women. In analyses of BMI during midlife (age of 50 years) among those who had never smoked, the associations became stronger, with the risk of death increasing by 20 to 40 percent among overweight persons and by two to at least three times among obese persons; the risk of death among underweight persons was attenuated. Conclusions Excess body weight during midlife, including overweight, is associated with an increased risk of death