When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.
Labels commonly used in clinical settings, like “elective” or “therapeutic,” influence how we think about the justifiability of abortion. We talk with Professor Katie Watson and Dr Maryl Sackeim about how the language clinicians use to describe abortion can affect patients’ experiences and even cause harm.
Frances Grimstad, MD, MS and Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH, MSSW, LICSW
Gender-affirming surgery for teens is growing as a field. Norms about who should be involved, to what extent, and for which health decisions are still evolving.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E452-457. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.452.
Dr Lisa Lehmann joins Ethics Talk to discuss “grateful patient programs,” pressures clinicians face to fundraise on behalf of health care organizations for which they work, and whether “VIP” care really is better for patients.
This article considers 1990s and 2000s-era civil rights complaints in NYC and offers legal strategies for scaling health outcomes improvement nationwide.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(1):E48-54. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.48.
Katherine Gentry, MD, MA and Aaron Wightman, MD, MA
A patient’s refusal of tracheostomy during an anticipated difficult intubation prompts critical questions about how to best express respect for a pediatric patient’s autonomy and whether and when deviation from standard of care is clinically and ethically appropriate.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(8):E683-689. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.683.