Physicians tend to rely on diagnostic criteria, including BMI, that can influence patients’ access to care, referrals, and insurance coverage for indicated interventions.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E507-513. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.507.
Diagnostic utility of weight and body mass index is widely overestimated, and their use as health and wellness measures can be sources of iatrogenic harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E540-544. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.540.
Tia Powell, MD, Sophia Shapiro, MD, and Ed Stein, JD, PhD
“Born that way” arguments have been used to establish transgender rights, but lack scientific evidence. Stronger support for promoting transgender rights comes instead from human rights-based language.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1126-1131. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.pfor3-1611.
Feminism plays critical roles in innovating health care policies and practices. Feminist insights into clinicians as gatekeepers to gender-transition interventions can help resist tendencies to pathologize transgender.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1132-1138. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.msoc1-1611.
One transgender patient draws upon his transition experiences to suggest strategies for health care professionals looking to be more responsive to transgender patients’ needs.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1139-1146. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.mnar1-1611.
AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Arina Evgenievna Chesnokova, MPH, a third-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine, interviewed Megan Sandel, MD, MPH about how physicians can establish partnerships with attorneys.
Caregivers often think that so-called “frequent-flyer” patients are at fault for their poor medical outcomes. In many such cases, though, unaddressed psychosocial issues are the root of the patients’ repeat visits to the emergency department.