Kim Christiansen discusses her experiences managing limited mobility and chronic pain from a partial spinal cord injury and Dr Natalie Hoff describes good physical therapy care for patients with chronic migraine headaches.
Dr Travis Rieder discusses his own experiences with opioids and the ethical challenges of “legacy patients,” and Dr Stephanie Zaza, president of the American College of Preventive Medicine, discusses the future of opioid research priorities.
Patrick S. Phelan, Mary C. Politi, PhD, and Christopher J. Dy, MD, MPH
During immediate and long-term recovery periods, decisions must account for patients’ personal goals and possible clinical outcomes and should clarify what recovery means.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E380-387. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.380.
Because knowledge about the efficacy of long-term opioid use is lacking, decisions about opioid treatment for chronic nonmalignant pain should be guided by a six-step decision making process that is based in clinical ethics.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(6):521-529. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.6.nlit1-1506.
Deciding whether to recommend Avastin or Lucentis raises ethical issues. Should the public health consequences of using a far more expensive drug trump what the doctor thinks is best for the individual patient?
The author explains why ear reconstruction is not enhancement surgery, and argues that the American system of health care reimbursement sometimes makes advocating for reimbursement part of treatment.