Government- and industry-funded campaigns for medication disposal do work, but responsibility often falls on local health care organizations to provide education and services.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E971-979. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.971.
Lisa Patel, MD, MESc and Katie E. Lichter, MD, MPH
Health care generates a lot of waste that enters landfills, oceans, and incinerators and adversely affects communities close to waste processing and disposal areas.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E980-985. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.980.
Dumping domestic and international health care waste into the earth’s terra firma and oceans undermine global health equity and the health of vulnerable communities.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E986-993. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.986.
Mismanagement of hospital waste can release harmful, deleterious contaminants into soil, water, and air and can have far-reaching environmental and public relations consequences.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E1013-1021. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.1013.
When confidential medical information can prevent a serious harm to a third party, the patient’s prima facie right to confidentiality must be balanced against the physician’s prima facie obligation to prevent serious harm to that third party.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(9):819-825. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.9.ecas1-1509.
At their best, good systems allow space for the practical judgment of health care professionals to achieve justice in the particular actions of their daily practice.
Rebekah Davis Reed, PhD, JD and Erik L. Antonsen, PhD, MD
Though the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s collection of disaggregated genetic data for occupational surveillance and research raises numerous privacy concerns, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 allows genetic information to be used to develop personal pharmaceuticals.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(9):E849-856. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.849.