Countering the prevailing thought that more medical testing and treatment is always better can be achieved by creating a forum for open discussion of costs and value to prevent patient harm from overuse.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(11):1079-1081. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.11.mnar1-1511.
Dr Brandon Morshedi joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Dr Faroukh Mehkri: “Should a Physician Ever Violate SWAT or TEMS Protocol in a Mass Casualty Incident?”
This comic conveys the absurdity of overreliance on symptom measures and excessive testing in contemporary clinical decision making and health care practice.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(9):E816-817. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.816.
Camillo Lamanna, MMathPhil, MBBS and Lauren Byrne, MBBS
Perhaps machine learning systems trained on patients’ electronic health records and social media footprints could be used as decision aids when patients lack capacity or face overwhelming decisions.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(9):E902-910. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.902.
Divya Yerramilli, MD, MBE, Alexandra Charrow, MD, MBE, and Arthur Caplan, PhD
Physicians should be aware of the powerful impact celebrities’ cancer narratives can have on patients’ experiences of their illnesses and treatment decisions. Partnering with celebrities is one strategy for delivering evidence-based health information and messaging to the public.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1075-1081. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1075.
Trafficking-specific ICD-10-CM codes account for physical, social, and psychological dimensions of trafficked patients’ experiences. Data collected by clinicians can also motivate improvements in health policy, resource allocation, and prevention.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1143-1151. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1143.
Global health outreach programs can risk benefitting students from resource-rich areas of the world more than the patients in resource-poor areas of the world. This month’s episode of Ethics Talk explores an alternative to academic health center-based health outreach programs.