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.
A requirement to uphold the confidentiality of information shared in the physician-patient relationship is a central tenet of medical professionalism that, while at risk and undermined in various ways in modern medicine, has been consistently endorsed from the time of Hippocrates.
Sanism, irrational prejudice against people with mental illness including erroneous and stereotypical beliefs, perverts legal proceedings involving the mentally ill.
Health information technology, like prior technological advances in medicine, can improve patient care and enhance the patient-physician relationship if used properly and thoughtfully.
The adoption of the accountable care organization model means that coordination of care will greatly improve, doctors will end up taking a much more active role in preventive care, and access will have to increase dramatically, perhaps with office-hour changes to accommodate patients' schedules.