A new Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs policy explicitly forbids physicians-in-training from practicing life-saving interventions on newly deceased individuals without consent.
The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics is cited as the gold standard for issues surrounding informed consent by family members for procedures to be performed on the newly deceased.
An ethical case concerns a 16-year-old girl suffering from systemic scleroderma with a poor prognosis and her father's cultural beliefs, which do not allow for discussions about end-of-life care.