When the patient delivers a low-birth-weight infant that requires extensive time in the neonatal intensive, should she be held responsible? Where do we draw the line? More importantly, on what basis do we draw the line?
Shelley Wall, MBChB, Nikki Allorto, MBChB, Ross Weale, MBBS, Victor Kong, PhD, and Damian Clarke, PhD
Caring for severe burn injuries in low- and middle-income countries requires making decisions about resource allocation given particular contextual factors.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(6):575-580. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.msoc1-1806.
The advent of force-feeding in the new century in the context of conflict and protest made it necessary to clarify and revise the whole concept of artificial feeding and force-feeding.
Sandra R. DiBrito, MD and Macey L. Henderson, JD, PhD
Organ donor potential should not be considered during active resuscitation of trauma patients, and trauma surgeons should not make organ donation requests.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(5):447-454. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.5.ecas4-1805.
Although identical twin-to-twin skin grafting has resulted in excellent survival rates in burn patients, the nature and scope of ethical decision making in monozygotic sibling skin grafting needs further examination.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(6):537-545. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.cscm2-1806.
There is no morally compelling reason to distinguish a doctor from a tank driver on the battlefield except for the fact that both sides agree to protect medical personnel.
Moral distress arises not only from organizational constraints on moral action but also from the environmental impacts of health care and climate change.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(6):617-628. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.mhst1-1706.
The greatest pressure to resuscitate the extremely low-birth-weight infant often results from successful marketing efforts that lead families to expect that their premature infants will be cute and healthy.