An ethical case that was eventually decided in the US Supreme Court involves the right of patients to request an independent third-party review if their HMO refuses to authorize treatments or procedures deemed medically necessary.
Timothy Cavanaugh, MD, Ruben Hopwood, MDiv, PhD, and Cei Lambert, MFA
The informed consent model for gender-affirming medical treatment emphasizes patient autonomy in choosing care without involving mental health professionals.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(11):1147-1155. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.11.sect1-1611.
William M. Kuzon, Jr., MD, PhD, Emily Sluiter, and Katherine M. Gast, MD, MS
Plastic surgeons’ use of patient images on social media should conform to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ advertising and image use guidelines.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(4):403-413. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.4.sect1-1804.
Alcoholics should not be subject to deprioritization on a liver transplant waiting list if the belief is held that alcoholism is a disease and not an issue of moral failure for which the patient should be blamed.
The genetic engineering of organ-donor animals to decrease the risk of human immune system rejection poses ethical and psychological challenges to the long-held boundary between humans and other animal species.
The gap between surgeons' professional idealism and clinical reality is widening because surgeons fail to keep up with the growing demand for evidence-based surgery.
The case of Johnson v Kokemoor illuminates the conflict between patients’ right to informed consent and clinicians’ need to learn through practice, a conflict that possibly could be resolved through greater transparency about clinicians’ experience or experience-dependent medical fees.
