This process of developing EBM-based guidelines and applying them to clinical care highlights the tension between generating unbiased knowledge based on statistical aggregation and the application of this information to individual patients.
Elderly persons should not be excluded from participation in clinical trials for cardiovascular drugs since that population comprises the largest number of patients with cardiovascular disease.
Laura N. Gitlin, PhD and Nancy A. Hodgson, PhD, RN
As a matter of medical ethics, physicians must address the health care needs of and be advocates for family caregivers of their patients with dementia.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(12):1171-1181. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.12.ecas1-1612.
Disparities in children’s mental health care could be addressed through expansion of school-based programs via passage of the Mental Health in Schools Act.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(12):1218-1224. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.12.pfor1-1612.
The FDA's decision to put a black-box warning on antidepressant labels may be misleading because it implies that antidepressants have definitely been found to increase suicidality in adolescents, when in fact there is merely a lack of clear evidence about their safety.
When psychiatrists must submit evaluations of their patients in legal settings, they must provide complete and factual accounts even if the patient's attorneys would rather redact some information.
Physicians are obligated to inform patients involved in a clinical trial that there is a chance of receiving a placebo, which can result in a deterioration of a medical condition.