One of the most rapidly growing occupations in the United States today is Physical Therapy. The United States Department of Labor has projected 23,000 unfilled physical therapist positions in the year 2000 and a lack of qualified physical therapists to fill them (www.apta.org). While Physical Therapy grows rapidly, questions of ethics in this field have also grown in large quantities. Physical therapy is the treatment of disease through physical means, including light, heat, sound waves, electricity, magnetic fields, and exercise (www.byu.edu). This means that therapists use many different forms to treat people, and treating people can be a large challenge because of all the different possibilities that could occur with the different treatments. Physical Therapy is a very rewarding and lucrative profession if the problems that come along with the job are dealt with in a capable manner. .
The main problem with Physical Therapy is the problem of the ethics of the profession. There are many ethical conflicts such as how to charge based on your services, and what types of services to give to each individual patient. To guide physical therapists in their decision making the American Physical Therapy Association came up with a code of ethics for it's members to set their standards to work by. Their members are required to work by this code and are also required to maintain ethical practices. The first principle in their code is to respect the rights and dignity of all individuals. This includes all patients, employees, and co-workers. The second principle is to comply with all of the laws and regulations governing the practice of physical therapy. Physical therapists learn these laws in school before becoming a therapist. The third principle is that they must accept responsibility for their actions and exercise sound judgment. Every therapist must own up to their mistakes, and take responsibility for their patients.
