Clinicians can support shared decision making by assessing patients’ knowledge, eligibility for screening, and preferences for engagement—active, collaborative, or passive—in the decision making process.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):601-607. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.ecas1-1507.
As billable procedures, advance care planning (ACP) conversations need measurable outcomes and training support. Integrating ACP into standard practice is key to ensuring clinicians deliver care that matters to patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(8):E750-756. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.750.
Pathologists should work cooperatively with clinicians and provide guidance about appropriate testing to uphold the medical ethics principle of justice.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(8):793-799. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.ecas5-1608.
Because health systems with high-functioning primary care services have decreased mortality and improved health outcomes, the sector can be classified as a public good, like police and fire services and public education.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):637-646. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.stas1-1507.
Using data from comparative effectiveness studies to inform cost-effectiveness analyses or other economic evaluations would strengthen ethical policy making.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):651-655. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.pfor1-1507.
Eitan Neidich, Alon B. Neidich, David A. Axelrod, MD, and John P. Roberts, MD
Geographic disparities in availability of organs for transplant have spawned for-profit companies that help patients get on waitlists in more than one region and arrange travel for them if an organ becomes available.
An undercurrent in all debates about allocation of health care resources to the poor is the matter of access to and coverage of health care for immigrants, particularly low-income and undocumented ones.