Ethical concerns in the practice of military aviation medicine.

Military aviation physicians are frequently placed in conflicting ethical situations regarding the areas of patient loyalty, confidentiality, and reporting of findings or hazards. The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has developed a set of guidelines for ethical conduct to assist physicians providing occupational health services. This paper attempts to show that these guidelines can be applied similarly by physicians providing aeromedical services. These guidelines can be helpful in resolving ethical dilemmas that can occur in the daily practice of aviation medicine.