A look at current literature and work by a statewide initiative can motivate development of policies that help respond to unrepresented patients’ needs.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(7):E611-616. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.611.
Dichotomies, such as reconstructive vs aesthetic surgery and medical vs cosmetic dermatology, can distort meanings of surgical procedures. This can compromise the value of procedures themselves and practices for their reimbursement.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1188-1194. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1188.
Eman Mubarak, MPH, Victoria Turner, MSW, Andrew G. Shuman, MD, Janice Firn, PhD, LMSW, and Daicia Price, PhD, LMSW
Antiracist approaches to decriminalizing acute exacerbations of mental illness require clinicians’ engagement in educating, training, and policy making.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(8):E788-794. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.788.
Feminism plays critical roles in innovating health care policies and practices. Feminist insights into clinicians as gatekeepers to gender-transition interventions can help resist tendencies to pathologize transgender.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1132-1138. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.msoc1-1611.
Those who believe that race is highly informative about underlying biology clash with those who understand race primarily as a social system of categorization. Members of both camps affirm that race is real.
Instead of succumbing to the urge to portray cultural differences as a dichotomy between clashing opposites, we should endeavor to note our common humanity, acknowledge the plurality of viewpoints within a given culture, and appreciate that cultures can evolve without being untrue to themselves.
The revisions balance a growing understanding of gender identity disorders and societal views with the need to retain conditions that benefit from intervention and the removal of which would hamper patients’ ability to receive medical treatment.