Should old folks who have lived their lives be allowed to place a huge economic burden on the young by using a disproportionate amount of limited Medicare resources for medical care?
Ladan Karim-Nejad joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Kayla Pangilinan: “How Should Responsibility for Proper Medication Disposal Be Shared?”
Government- and industry-funded campaigns for medication disposal do work, but responsibility often falls on local health care organizations to provide education and services.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E971-979. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.971.
Using the patient’s worldview to challenge his or her decision and establish a treatment plan—implying the view is shared by the physician when it is not—could be seen as manipulative and deceptive.
The growing number of web-savvy patients alters the power dynamic in the patient-physician relationship. In the older model of care, physicians served as unchallenged experts who alone devised therapeutic plans for patients.
People have a social obligation to conform to the general rules of sleeping: sleep at night, in a bed, in a private place away from public view, and in proper attire.
Physicians have a responsibility to assess elderly patients for conditions that could affect their ability to drive safely and to be familiar with state laws that govern physician duty to report impaired drivers.