While useful in analyzing population trends in relative body weight, BMI possesses multiple shortcomings when used as an individualized health screening tool.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E545-549. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.545.
Lydia Smeltz, Susan M. Havercamp, PhD, and Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA
Lack of disability-competent health care contributes to inequitable health outcomes for persons with disabilities, the largest minoritized population in the world.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(1):E54-61. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.54.
Lydia Smeltz joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Drs Susan M. Havercamp and Lisa Meeks: “Aspiring to Disability Consciousness in Health Professions Training.”
Support for the argument that preimplantation genetic diagnosis followed by selection and implantation of an embryo with a trait that many consider a disability, e.g., deafness, achondroplasia, does not harm the child that develops from the implanted embryo.
Direct sterilization by means of tubal ligation is morally unacceptable in Catholic bioethics but other procedures that result in indirect sterilization may be acceptable under certain conditions.
Physicians who specialize in assisted reproductive technology should advise parents-to-be of the health and psychosocial risks of preimplantation sex selection for nonmedical reasons.