'Disabled' Is Not 'Impaired'

Abstract

To the Editor.— article in the June 5, 1987, issue entitled The Physically Disabled Physician1 was a welcome and well-researched report on the disabled physician's status in the medical profession. I must, however, object toJAMA's inappropriate juxtaposition of an article on the disabled physician next to articles on the impaired physician. grouping of these articles together strongly implies that both are similar, sharing identical medical and social considerations. There is an important distinction to be made between the disabled physician and the impaired physician. impaired physician often suffers from alcohol or drug dependence, thus severely impairing his ability to practice medicine. disabled physician, in contrast, suffers no loss in intellectual ability or in capacity for clinical decision making. As stated in Dr Wainapel's article, physically disabled physicians' needs for treatment and advocacy are distinct from those of the 'impaired physician.' To equate the