Physicians are urged to help patients address their concerns about organ donation by providing educational literature and facilitating discussions with the local organ procurement organization.
Alcoholics should not be subject to deprioritization on a liver transplant waiting list if the belief is held that alcoholism is a disease and not an issue of moral failure for which the patient should be blamed.
Although patients’ medical gender transition can be facilitated by counseling, as a matter of medical ethics, informed consent must be obtained for treatment.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1079-1085. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.ecas2-1611.
Withholding information from patients during an informed consent process is ethically unacceptable. Patients may restrict the amount of information they wish to receive or designate someone else to receive the information for them.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(3):209-214. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.3.ecas2-1503.
When a would-be living organ donor wants to accept risk in the name of altruism when there is little chance for benefit or significant chance for harm, physicians are justified in limiting that altruism.