Size-based health and beauty ideals emanated from eugenic pseudoscientific postulates, and BMI continues to advance white supremacist embodiment norms.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E535-539. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.535.
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.
While useful in analyzing population trends in relative body weight, BMI possesses multiple shortcomings when used as an individualized health screening tool.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E545-549. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.545.
Fragmentation in US health care delivery streams and shortcomings in formal quality measures mean that transparency could be more useful to policymakers and regulators than patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(11):E1075-1082. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.1075.
Peter T. Hetzler III and Lydia S. Dugdale, MD, MAR
Countering overmedicalization of death requires acknowledging that dying patients are living patients. It also requires persistent focus on health and wholeness, especially at the end of life, and a solid interdisciplinary approach to supporting dying patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(8):E766-773. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.766.
As physicians we decide which tests or treatments go on the bill but have little idea how our decisions impact what patients pay. Now patients, payers, and policymakers are demanding that we consider the cost of our recommendations.