Clinicians have an ethical obligation to promote health equity in their communities. This month, we discuss how clinicians worked to expose the water crisis in Flint, and explore ways that clinicians can combat systemic injustice and promote health equity.
This month, AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Margaret Cocks, MD, PhD, a third-year resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital, interviewed Theonia Boyd, MD, about ethical issues pathologists face when conducting autopsies and obtaining specimens.
AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Karel-Bart Celie, a second-year medical student at Columbia University School of Medicine, interviewed Joseph J. Fins, MD, about the work of ethics committees and consultants as they pursue professionalization and respond to changes in health care organization and practice.
The stigma associated with HIV has diminished with its spread among the heterosexual population and the development of effective treatments. This normalization may justify assuming a more traditional public health perspective about mandatory prenatal screening.
Trauma surgeons’ role in gun violence prevention is hampered by restrictions on funding for research with implications for public health interventions.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(5):475-482. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.5.msoc1-1805.
Gene editing to enhance humans’ adaptability to climate change should consider safety, harm to be averted, succeeding generations, and social consequences.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(12):1186-1192. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.12.stas1-1712.
Lauren C. Nigro, MD, Michael J. Feldman, MD, Robin L. Foster, MD, and Andrea L. Pozez, MD
Suspected child abuse cases can be identified and repeat hospitalizations of such cases prevented using multidisciplinary teams to evaluate pediatric burns.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(6):552-559. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.org1-1806.