COVID-19 underscores historical precedent for fear-driven responses that disregard autonomy among persons with low income who are also persons of color.
AMA J Ethics. 2021;23(11):E840-846. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2021.840.
Nicholas Freudenberg, MD and Peter M. Yellowlees, MBBS, MD
Ideally, telepsychiatry treatment should include collaboration with patients’ primary care physicians. One way to facilitate the collaboration is for patients to have videoconference appointments with their psychiatrists in the primary care clinic.
Physicians’ ethical obligations to disclose conflicts of interest to patients and to obtain their informed consent for treatment are particularly critical when proposed treatments are experimental.