Ramya Sampath joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article: “When Is Iatrogenic Harm Negligent?”

Sometimes, life-saving treatments have serious negative consequences. This month, AMA Journal of Ethics digital editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux discusses strategies for communicating about iatrogenic outcomes with Dr. Robert Nelson, a senior pediatric ethicist with the Food and Drug Administration, with a particular focus on how to enlist parents as allies in high-stress pediatric cases.

AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Renee Mao, a third-year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, interviewed Dr. Tarris Rosell, PhD, DMin, MDiv, about strategies for incorporating spiritual care into oncology.

AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Abraar Karan, MD, and MPH candidate at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, interviewed Agnes Binagwaho, MD, PhD, about practical challenges Rwanda overcame and ethical questions it faced while motivating better health outcomes for its people.

Barriers to effective prognosis conversations include knowledge deficits, misconceptions, cultural differences, and lack of motivation. These can be addressed head-on by good communication interventions.

While some physicians try to avoid ethics consultations, their participation can be essential for good patient care.

Equal access is a goal even when patients present with taboo illnesses. But, the date of a patient’s last drink still matters.

Invisibility of racial inequity and gender inclusion in clinical research means key features of disease etiology and symptom presentation are unaccounted for.

This digital still from a narrated animated portrait depicts a woman overwhelmed by her body’s failure and by a health care system’s failure to care well.