Targeted dosing to treat pediatric inflammatory bowel disease is challenging because dosing guidelines are based on data gathered from adult subjects of clinical trials. Patients’ families and health care organizations also incur high costs and must try to balance potential benefits against risks of ongoing monitoring.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(9):E841-848. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.841.
Jonathan Treem, MD, Joel Yager, MD, and Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS-S
Some individuals with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa experience dramatically degraded quality of life in the face of refractory illness and compulsory treatment.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E703-709. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.703.
Federal regulations governing egg donation fall into two categories: safety testing and truth in advertising. Neither deals directly with informed consent by, for example, specifying what information donors must be given.
Conflicts between federal and state laws governing marijuana, lack of evidence about its efficacy as a treatment, and physicians' inability to predict or control dosage would all be aided by reclassification of the drug that would let clinical research go forward.
Though there are channels through which terminally ill patients can access some experimental drugs that have not yet received FDA approval for marketing to the public, in general those drugs must already be proven safe and effective.
There are numerous state and federal laws designed to protect against misuse and diversion of prescription drugs that apply to patients' behavior, physicians' prescribing practices, and dispensing.