Moral distress arises not only from organizational constraints on moral action but also from the environmental impacts of health care and climate change.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(6):617-628. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.6.mhst1-1706.
Climate is a primary determinant of whether a particular location has the environmental conditions suitable for the transmission of several vector-borne diseases, including dengue fever, St. Louis encephalitis, and West Nile virus.
When the health care industry came under the environmental microscope, the daily work of treating patients was discovered to be highly wasteful of natural and financial resources.
Pamela B. Teaster, PhD, MA, MS and Al O. Giwa, LLB, MD, MBA, MBE
Since ageism contributes to global mental health inequity among older people, responding to their needs should be a clinical, ethical, and policy priority.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(10):E765-770. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.765.
Jennifer T. McIntosh, PhD, RN, CNE, PMH-BC, NEA-BC and Mona Shattell, PhD, RN
This commentary examines prevention policies that overly rely on liberty restrictions imposed by designs of inpatient psychiatric units’ structures and spaces.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(3):E199-204. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.199.
Therapeutic security in inpatient psychiatric settings requires careful planning and implementation if it is to support both patients’ safety and dignity.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(3):E205-211. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.205.