This third era of opioids ruining thousands of US lives follows a first era of iatrogenic addiction stemming from the Harrison Act of 1914, and a second was marked by changes in pain treatment attitudes between 1950 and 1970.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E729-734. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.729.
The American Medical Association named alcoholism and addiction as illnesses during the 20th century. Obesity, smoking, and motor vehicle safety were also named as public health issues and targeted in poster advertising campaigns.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1201-1211. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1201.
Clinicians tend to view obesity as a disease, while members of the body positivity movement value their bodies as they are. Should clinicians treat obesity as a disease in patients who don’t see themselves as ill?
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1195-1200. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1195.
Beyond consensus that pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience,” its biology remains poorly understood, and options for its treatment remain frustratingly inadequate.
The causes of many health behaviors are deeply rooted in our culture, and using a counseling model that assumes individual control and responsibility for these behaviors can cause patients to feel hectored instead of helped.
Anesthesiology developed into a profession in the first third of the twentieth century with the establishment of professorships, training programs, board certification, and journals in anesthesiology and advances in delivering and in understanding the effects of anesthesia.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(3):258-264. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.3.mhst1-1503.
“Difficult” patient-physician encounters have roots in uncertainty about individuals’ trustworthiness, clinicians’ skills and training, and medical science.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(4):391-398. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.4.mhst1-1704.