Physicians can improve diets of patients who live in food deserts by providing nutrition materials, training in food preparation, and promoting nutritious food availability in communities where they practice.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(10):E918-923. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.918.
Farmworkers can become ill due to toxic exposure in their work environments. Recommending specific restrictions, educating patients on protection strategies, and partnering with agribusiness owners and allied health workers can drive development of alternatives to agricultural practices with health risks.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(10):E932-940. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.932.
Sarah Reinhardt, MPH, RD and Ricardo J. Salvador, PhD, MS
Clinicians should contribute to healthful, equitable, sustainable food procurement initiatives consistent with their institutions' health-promotion missions.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(10):E974-978. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.974.
Physicians need better education in nutrition science. Referring patients to nutrition experts for dietary counseling would motivate food availability and intake assessment as routine. Good clinical counseling considers patients' cultural traditions and environmental sustainability as key ethical values.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(10):E994-1000. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.994.
Vegan patients screened for vitamin and mineral deficiencies might benefit from supplements, but physicians are obliged to discuss lack of regulation in the supplement industry and possible risks.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(11):E1025-1032. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1025.
Joel T. Wu, JD, MPH, MA and Jennifer B. McCormick, PhD, MPP
False health-related speech can cause harm, but it’s not restricted unless it’s obscene. Physicians are obliged not only to correct patients’ false beliefs, but to engage digital spaces in which false claims thrive.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(11):E1052-1058. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1052.
Stephanie L. Samuels, MD and Wilma C. Rossi, MD, MBE
When a parent resists a physician's recommendation for a pediatric patient, physician-parent partnering can promote the patient's best interest and help encourage lifestyle changes.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(12):E1126-1132. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1126
Jane Bartels, MBBS and Christopher J. Ryan, MBBS, MHL
When patients cannot give informed consent or refusal for antipsychotic medication, physicians must meet specific criteria to justify temporarily withholding a diagnosis.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(12):E1119-1125. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1119.
Researchers and clinicians face ethical and policy-based challenges in disclosing, preventing and treating psychosis. Which diagnostic labels should be considered to motivate more effective public and professional dialogue about psychosis risk?
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(6):624-632. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.6.msoc1-1606.