Decision making in health care demands that we balance multiple considerations, like quality of life, statistics, and how different options could affect others. Dr Brian Zikmund-Fisher shares his own experience as a patient and explains how decision science can help us navigate ethically complex health decisions.
When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.
Labels commonly used in clinical settings, like “elective” or “therapeutic,” influence how we think about the justifiability of abortion. We talk with Professor Katie Watson and Dr Maryl Sackeim about how the language clinicians use to describe abortion can affect patients’ experiences and even cause harm.
Editor in chief, Dr Audiey Kao, talks with Dr Matthew Wynia about allocation of critical care resources and clinicians' duty to show up to work during public health emergencies.
Professor john powell joins us for this special edition of Ethics Talk to discuss how a lens of “othering and belonging” can help us navigate our obligations to and relationships with each other, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Lisa Patel, MD, MESc and Katie E. Lichter, MD, MPH
Health care generates a lot of waste that enters landfills, oceans, and incinerators and adversely affects communities close to waste processing and disposal areas.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(10):E980-985. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.980.
Spread of health misinformation by health professionals who also hold government positions represents a long-standing problem exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(3):E210-218. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.210.