A new Virginia law governing collaborations between nurse practitioners and doctors leaves unresolved key legal issues in team-based care, including those pertaining to medical malpractice and liability and anticompetitive practices.
Incarcerated pregnant women are shackled while giving birth and routinely separated from their children immediately, which in many states leads to permanent termination of parental rights.
Punishing women who use drugs during pregnancy deters them from seeking prenatal care and entering drug treatment programs, and the relevant policies may unfairly target poor or minority women.
Rachel O. Reid, MD, MS and Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH
An effective policy regarding retail clinics in a primary care practice should address patients' need for timely and convenient acute care and build capacity for enhanced access to acute care within the primary care clinic itself.
Krishna Lynch, RN, MJ, CPHRM and Rita F. Morris, RN, MJ
Court decisions on nurse liability draw a fine line between failing to take action in the patient’s best interest and advocating for patients in an uncollaborative manner.
Two trends in medicine are altering what patients expect from their doctors and nurses and what doctors and nurses of both sexes now expect from each other.
A medical student’s desire to practice the specialty that he or she finds most interesting should not outweigh the right of patients in a pluralistic society to receive a full range of legal medical services.
Patricia M. Davidson, PhD, RN, Cynda Hylton Rushton, PhD, RN, Jennifer Dotzenrod, MPP, Christina A. Godack, MA, Deborah Baker, DNP, CRNP, and Marie N. Nolan, PhD, RN
The nursing profession can become more inclusive by fostering a supportive culture, resilience, and realistic expectations for people with disabilities.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(10):1034-1040. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.10.msoc1-1610.