The legal definition of a patient and the corresponding duties of the physician have been debated in state courts for over a century, and many aspects of the question are still unresolved.
When talking to physicians about practice variation, “Why does hospital A have higher cesarean rates than Hospital B?” is likely to be more effective than “Why does Doctor A have higher cesarean rates than Doctor B?”
Michael Farias, MD, MS, MBA and Rahul H. Rathod, MD
A distinguishing feature of a SCAMP is its ability to capture knowledge-based diversions from a recommended pathway and to “learn” from such individualized patient management.
Medical school faculty have a nonnegotiable duty to report students whose professional behavior falls seriously short of the mark. If they refrain from fulfilling this duty for fear of retaliation, the antiharassment pendulum has truly swung too far.
Matthew William McCarthy, MD and Joseph J. Fins, MD
Hospital medicine must expand its mission to include the teaching of medical ethics, professionalism, and communication to trainees during clinical rounds.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(6):528-532. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.peer2-1706.
Transparency about teaching hospitals’ educational mission respects patient autonomy and aligns patients’ interests with those of trainees and the public.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(6):537-543. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.ecas1-1706.
There is evidence that children who are unaware of their life-threatening diagnoses do not experience any less distress and anxiety than those who are told, and in some cases they may actually experience more.