Graphic pathographies can illustrate how overreliance on statistics can obscure the clinical relevance of patients’ experiences of anxiety when they’re presented with prognoses.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(9):E897-901. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.897.
Therapeutic misconception—a false belief that individuals will benefit from participating in research—can bias informed consent. Ethics consultants can help by engaging participants’ and researchers’ understandings of risks and benefits and by asking good questions about the influences of researchers’ enthusiasm.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1100-1106. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1100.
A scientist-patient and patient-caregiver sit for a portrait and consider complementary therapy and its value in facilitating observation of patient-caregiver relationships.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(6):E565-569. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.565.
Physicians’ creative writing is a form of narrative ethics that can mitigate burnout and promote new ways of engaging with burn patients and caregivers.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(6):589-594. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.pnar1-1806.
The question that comes to mind when one considers the risks of a clinical trial is, “Why would anyone agree to participate?” Interviews with trial volunteers and their family members make clear that often it is the appeal of discovering something new and unknown.