By Dick Mooney

Guidelines to the "correct" things to do, usually called Ethics Codes or Codes of Conduct, exist for almost every profession. They represent the professionals' consensus about what business practices best support the core values of their profession. They are also very useful for reminding practitioners of their ethical duties, helping them to avoid treading on values their profession deems important, and for training people who are new to the profession.

As noted in the lead article in this issue, I decided to draft proposed Principles of Professional Practice For Amputee Support Group Leaders to give leaders a place to start discussing and debating these principles, ultimately agreeing, I hope, on a set of standards to which we can all subscribe. I'm sure Ralph Fowler would be delighted to have a dialog about these principles take place on the SGL list. For those who receive a hard copy of the Communicator and have no access to email, Ralph would be pleased to hear from them via regular mail and will send their viewpoints to the list members so everyone can share opinions. Ralph's address is 6836 Devontry Drive, El Paso, TX 79934.

1. Develop and maintain personal competence.

We strive to develop and enhance our personal expertise and skills in all areas of support group management and our working knowledge of the physical and emotional effects of amputation, prosthetic and emotional rehabilitation, and the wide range of services available in our community and elsewhere for amputees. We strive to inform and educate our group members effectively and we take every opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base of other support group leaders.

2. Give first consideration to the objectives and policies of my group.

The usual objectives of amputee support groups are to provide support, encouragement, and relevant information to amputees. As group leaders, we have a duty to develop appropriate policies and procedures that support our group's objectives. Since our "first consideration" is to our group, we will put our group's needs above or own and will avoid both apparent and actual conflicts of interest. We will maintain objectivity and freedom from obligation to anyone but the group and its members.

3. Treat all members of the group with consideration and respect, and maintain an atmosphere free from harassment.

Our constituents ally with our group for support, encouragement, and informational reasons. They have undergone the trauma of limb loss and may be sensitive and vulnerable to varying degrees. We provide for them a safe, comfortable, and harassment-free atmosphere in which to meet and we treat them with consideration and respect at all times. We also take steps to assure that group members treat each other with the same consideration and respect.

4. Provide an atmosphere of privacy and confidentiality within which our members can feel comfortable.

Whatever transpires at a meeting or during a visit should remain there and not be discussed or shared with others. The exceptions are threats of suicide and suspicion of child, spousal, or elder abuse which we have a duty to report to appropriate authorities. We will guard our membership list carefully and will not share it with those who do not have a "need to know" that is directly related to an approved group activity. We will discourage the use of cameras at meetings except by authorized personnel for bona fide group purposes, such as group archives or a newsletter.

5. Assure that quasi-medical and quasi-legal advice and information we and our visitors provide to others is accurate and authentic at all times.

When our constituents need medical or legal advice, our duty is to refer them to appropriately qualified professionals. Providing advice and information about how to handle disputes with prosthetists or what benign phantom pain treatments are commonly employed, as examples--advice that might be considered quasi-medical or quasi-legal--may be impossible for us to avoid altogether without abrogating our responsibility to provide general advice and information to our members. Our constituents, especially new amputees, rely on the information we provide to be accurate and in their best interests. We guard against providing information we are not certain is accurate, and the information and advice we do provide must do no harm.

6. Assure that our most precious resources, our volunteers, are respected, valued, and rewarded appropriately.

We realize how important an effective, well coordinated team of officers, directors, and workers is to the attainment of group objectives. We treat our volunteers with consideration and respect at all times, give them challenging and meaningful work to do, give their input a respectful hearing, and provide them with frequent recognition and praise.

7. Grant all qualified health care and prosthetics suppliers equal consideration.

Our goal is to serve the best interests of our group by bringing to their attention information regarding the providers of amputation-related goods and services in the community. We will show favoritism (such as for certified prosthetists) only when required to do so by formal, written group policy. Otherwise, we will treat all qualified providers equally, favoring none with special treatment or information. We will avoid either making or blocking referrals based upon opinion, bias, or hearsay.

8. Demand accurate consumer information and honesty from providers of prosthetics and health care goods and services.

Information provided to our members by prosthetics and health care providers should be aimed at helping them become informed consumers--not to make a sale. The value of a supplier presentation is judged by the informational content that is beneficial to our members, not the marketing content that is beneficial to the provider. We will deal positively and assertively with sales people who attempt to use our meetings to meet amputees, hand out business cards, or otherwise pursue sales opportunities. Information furnished by providers must be accurate, complete, and devoid of any misrepresentation whatsoever. We will refuse to countenance dishonest or unethical conduct on the part of firms from which our members purchase goods and services. 

9. Cooperate with local disability-related and social service organizations, other amputee support groups, and national resources, such as the Amputee Coalition of America.

No support group can be an island. We best serve our group when we develop and maintain an active network of other organizations that provide information and services our members may need. Through this network we give help as well as get help. Although our first duty is to our own group, we also have a duty to share what we have learned freely and openly with other support group leaders. By supporting the goals of an organization such as the ACA, we multiply the effectiveness of information sharing.

10. Subject the resources of the group to tight control in accordance with generally accepted accounting and internal control principles.

We will establish policies and procedures to regulate the custodian of funds, how funds are raised, kept, and expended, including the establishment of appropriate signature authorizations for various levels of expenditures. We will assure that funds are expended only for the purposes for which they were raised. We will make periodic reports to the membership regarding receipts, expenditures, and balances on hand; and we will subject the financial records of the group to periodic independent review. No officer or director can benefit financially from his or her position with the organization. Reasonable expenses may be covered, but gifts, bonuses, luxury travel, and other items of monetary value are not provided.