• Home
  • Practice Focus
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
    • How I Do It
    • TRIO Best Practices
  • Business of Medicine
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Practice Management
    • Tech Talk
    • AI
  • Literature Reviews
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Career
    • Medical Education
    • Professional Development
    • Resident Focus
  • ENT Perspectives
    • ENT Expressions
    • Everyday Ethics
    • From TRIO
    • The Great Debate
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Rx: Wellness
    • The Voice
    • Viewpoint
  • TRIO Resources
    • Triological Society
    • The Laryngoscope
    • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
    • TRIO Combined Sections Meetings
    • COSM
    • Related Otolaryngology Events
  • Search

Ageism in Medicine: A Look at Medical Ethics, Laws, and Regulations

by Steven M. Harris, Esq. • June 15, 2020

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version
© Sohel Parvez Haque / shutterstock.com

© Sohel Parvez Haque / shutterstock.com

Ageism is defined as stereotyping, prejudice, or discrimination against individuals on the basis of their age. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), 43% of all physicians and surgeons are 55 or older. Specialists are, on average, older than primary care doctors. In addition, around 30% of the current U.S. population is older than 55, and that percentage is increasing thanks to the aging baby boomer demographic. These numbers set the stage for increasing incidents of ageism. Advances in medicine have given humans longevity, but that longevity may be squandered if the medical community has a negative perspective on late-age physicians.

You Might Also Like

  • The Ethics of ‘Right to Try’ Laws
  • Advertise with Caution: State laws restrict how physicians can market themselves
  • Interplay Between Physician Employment Agreements, Medical Staff Bylaws Should Not be Ignored
  • Legal Steps That Need To Be Taken Before You Can Leave Your Medical Practice
Explore This Issue
June 2020

Medical Ethics: Origins and Controversies

The expression “do no harm,” most likely from the ancient medical text, Of the Epidemics, has been used throughout history to express an underlying ethical principle of medicine. It implies that physicians must abstain from acting in a way that potentially harms a patient. This is particularly true today, when a physician’s act of practicing medicine creates malpractice risk. The key to understanding how and when to act or abstain from certain actions in practicing medicine is whether the physician can effectively identify their own biases or proficiency in treating patients.

Physicians may be unaware of the risk of harm to patients from ageism. They may act, or fail to act, because of beliefs they hold relating to a patient’s age. For example, they may attribute an older patient’s complaints of knee or back pain, trouble sleeping, poor short-term memory, or difficulty breathing to normal symptoms of advanced age and not look further for a cause.

Ageism is also apparent when employers exhibit bias toward physicians they perceive as ineffective simply because of their age and attempt to impose mandatory competency assessments or age-based retirement policies. Currently, about 5% of healthcare facilities have age-related screening policies. Common ageism policies include requiring late-age testing for physician competency or skills without objective, evidence-based methods; making disability-related inquiries; or requiring an employee to undergo physical, medical, or cognitive examinations without the reasonable belief or justification that a physician cannot perform the essential functions of their job.

These policies have been met with fierce opposition from physicians. As a result, certain states, such as Utah, have passed legislation prohibiting or restricting healthcare facilities from requiring a physician to undergo competency testing or retirement at a certain age.

A court is more likely to find testing for a particular specialty (e.g., fine motor-skill tests for surgeons) to be legitimate when such tests are evidence based and not subject to arbitrary interpretation or based on age alone.

Although ageism against younger physicians is far less common, it’s surprisingly not unheard of (although rarely reported), particularly in specialty areas in which the knowledge gap is much wider due to experience.

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Filed Under: Departments, Legal Matters Tagged With: ageism, medical careerIssue: June 2020

You Might Also Like:

  • The Ethics of ‘Right to Try’ Laws
  • Advertise with Caution: State laws restrict how physicians can market themselves
  • Interplay Between Physician Employment Agreements, Medical Staff Bylaws Should Not be Ignored
  • Legal Steps That Need To Be Taken Before You Can Leave Your Medical Practice

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

Polls

Would you choose a concierge physician as your PCP?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

Top Articles for Residents

  • Applications Open for Resident Members of ENTtoday Edit Board
  • How To Provide Helpful Feedback To Residents
  • Call for Resident Bowl Questions
  • New Standardized Otolaryngology Curriculum Launching July 1 Should Be Valuable Resource For Physicians Around The World
  • Do Training Programs Give Otolaryngology Residents the Necessary Tools to Do Productive Research?
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment

    • Is Middle Ear Pressure Affected by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use?

    • 22 Symptoms Common to Patients with Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome

    • Otolaryngologists Are Still Debating the Effectiveness of Tongue Tie Treatment

    • Keeping Watch for Skin Cancers on the Head and Neck

    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment

    • Rating Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Severity: How Do Two Common Instruments Compare?

    • Is Middle Ear Pressure Affected by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use?

    • Otolaryngologists Are Still Debating the Effectiveness of Tongue Tie Treatment

    • Complications for When Physicians Change a Maiden Name

    • Excitement Around Gene Therapy for Hearing Restoration
    • “Small” Acts of Kindness
    • How To: Endoscopic Total Maxillectomy Without Facial Skin Incision
    • Science Communities Must Speak Out When Policies Threaten Health and Safety
    • Observation Most Cost-Effective in Addressing AECRS in Absence of Bacterial Infection

Follow Us

  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • The Triological Society
  • The Laryngoscope
  • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookies

Wiley

Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 1559-4939