Physicians can improve diets of patients who live in food deserts by providing nutrition materials, training in food preparation, and promoting nutritious food availability in communities where they practice.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(10):E918-923. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.918.
Farmworkers can become ill due to toxic exposure in their work environments. Recommending specific restrictions, educating patients on protection strategies, and partnering with agribusiness owners and allied health workers can drive development of alternatives to agricultural practices with health risks.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(10):E932-940. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.932.
Millennium Development Goals on nutrition and health seek to end hunger and significantly reduce malnutrition and premature death by 2025. Health systems and health professionals have important roles in meeting these goals.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(10):E979-986. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.979.
Sarah Reinhardt, MPH, RD and Ricardo J. Salvador, PhD, MS
Clinicians should contribute to healthful, equitable, sustainable food procurement initiatives consistent with their institutions' health-promotion missions.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(10):E974-978. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.974.
Sociocultural and economic factors drive transition from plant-based to animal-based protein sources in rapidly developing and urbanizing countries of South Asia and Southeast Asia. Better understanding the health impact of this transition requires integrating epidemiological and social science research methods.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(10):E987-993. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.987.
A lack of consensus guidelines or a belief that current evidence does not support such guidelines might be justified if a clinician expresses a commitment to patient-centered care and shared decision making.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1007-1016. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1007.
Parents’ false beliefs can be engaged respectfully to motivate deliberations about shared values and goals, but refusal of clinically indicated treatment could warrant reporting.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1017-1024. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1017.
Vegan patients screened for vitamin and mineral deficiencies might benefit from supplements, but physicians are obliged to discuss lack of regulation in the supplement industry and possible risks.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1025-1032. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1025.
Joel T. Wu, JD, MPH, MA and Jennifer B. McCormick, PhD, MPP
False health-related speech can cause harm, but it’s not restricted unless it’s obscene. Physicians are obliged not only to correct patients’ false beliefs, but to engage digital spaces in which false claims thrive.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1052-1058. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1052.