The convening power of clinical ethics committees stems from their reputation for fairness and procedural legitimacy in addressing and resolving ethically complex cases.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(5):540-545. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.5.msoc2-1605.
Distinguishing between elective and therapeutic abortions undermines the moral agency of patients and disproportionately amplifies moral rather than medical dimensions of the procedure.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1175-1180. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1175.
William F. Parker, MD, MS and Marshall H. Chin, MD, MPH
Given organ scarcity, transplantation programs state that patient promises of compliance cannot be taken at face value, excluding candidates who are deemed untrustworthy.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E408-415. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.408.
Diagnostic utility of weight and body mass index is widely overestimated, and their use as health and wellness measures can be sources of iatrogenic harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E540-544. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.540.
The United States government’s insistence that organs can only be procured through altruism, rather than being exchanged or purchased, contributes to the very exploitation of people of color in developing countries it sought to prevent.
When patient autonomy became a closely held value in medical ethics in the 1960s and '70s, the physician’s conscience-based right to refuse to deliver a given service began to be contested.