Two photographs of caregivers walking through a Honduran jungle to visit patients in their homes literally and figuratively represent barriers to health care access.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E63-65. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.63.
Mortality rates for breast cancer are higher where treatments are unavailable and unaffordable. Though less effective, breast examination could be a good screening approach.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(2):E93-101. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.93.
Annette Mendola, PhD and Richard L. Gibson, MD, MPH
Because research on the efficacy of approaches to addiction recovery is inconclusive, clinicians should recommend several, including 12-step approaches.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(6):646-655. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.6.sect1-1606.
Physicians tend to rely on diagnostic criteria, including BMI, that can influence patients’ access to care, referrals, and insurance coverage for indicated interventions.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E507-513. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.507.
Diagnostic utility of weight and body mass index is widely overestimated, and their use as health and wellness measures can be sources of iatrogenic harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E540-544. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.540.
Clinicians have an ethical obligation to provide high-quality care to incarcerated and justice-involved patients, which means being knowledgeable and empathic about the challenges these patients face. This month, we explore patient, student, and clinician perspectives on correctional health care.
AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Natasha Dolgin, an MD/PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, interviewed Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, about organ allocation policy and geographic disparities in access, possible ways to maximize equity, and advice physicians should give their patients between policy changes.