We must not pit immigration policy and health care needs against one another. We need better policy on immigration, and that policy should confront immigration at the workplace and at the border—not in the hospital emergency room.
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.
Physicians make patients aware of those interventions that they (the patients) may then refuse. In short, informed consent is less about patient decisions than it is about restraining physicians.
The question is whether the medi-spa is a consumer-driven, profit-motivated business that happens to fall under the purview of medical practice or a legitimate and integral part of the health care system? Does it fulfill consumers’ desires or relieve suffering and promote wellness?
Is our generation of physicians somehow “weaker” because we’d rather not spend our entire lives at the office? Physicians who trained and practiced under more grueling conditions wonder how we expect to be competent physicians if we don’t work at it?
Giving undocumented immigrants and those with DACA status (DREAMers) access to health care and medical education enables them to contribute to these systems.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(3):221-233. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.3.peer1-1703.
This commentary on a case considers the ethical feasibility of palliative psychiatry in the care of patients with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E668-673. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.668.
Jonathan Treem, MD, Joel Yager, MD, and Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS-S
Some individuals with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa experience dramatically degraded quality of life in the face of refractory illness and compulsory treatment.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E703-709. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.703.
J. Corey Williams, MD, MA, Ashley Andreou, MD, MPH, and Susan M. Cheng, EdLD, MPP
Faculty who lack skill in addressing negative bias in learning environments can erode safety, especially among underrepresented students, trainees, and patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(1):E6-11. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.6.