This article examines conceptual limitations of extant accounts of palliative psychiatry, with a focus on obligations to distinguish among and clearly formulate goals of care.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E710-717. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.710.
When evaluating the developments and complications of a marginally viable premature infant, physicians and parents must work together to decide on treatment that is in the infant’s best interest.
Physicians should be aware of the level of emotional distress and suffering that a patient is experiencing as a result of his or her illness and incorporate that into the patient's treatment plan.
A single-payer health system is the only way for the United States to consolidate fragmented health care administration, successfully negotiate lower prices for medical care, and adopt responsible rather than profit-driven strategies.
We should conduct empirical research to better understand how patients, parents, clinicians, and others grapple with the ethical challenges we confront when caring for children who are dying.
Deciding whether to recommend Avastin or Lucentis raises ethical issues. Should the public health consequences of using a far more expensive drug trump what the doctor thinks is best for the individual patient?
The pharmaceutical industry's influence on the process of defining illness can be positive, as when drug companies increase public awareness of disease and develop effective therapies, or negative, if it pushes the boundaries of illness too far in pursuit of profit.