Industrialized nations could benefit from strategies emerging in developing nations such as respectful collaboration between traditional out-of-hospital birthing practices and maternity units in partnering hospitals.
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.
White Coats for Black Lives advocates that American medicine address racial inequities in health and health care by promoting diversity, eliminating implicit racial bias in the physician workforce, and advocating for equitable social structures.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(10):978-982. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.10.sect1-1510.
Despite the natural desire in obstetrics for a happy outcome, sometimes the common aggressive interventions will not help maintain a pregnancy until viability.
Whether a physician fancies herself a member of the Green Party or the Tea Party, he or she must obey our government’s rules in her advocacy for that cause and be extremely diligent in those increasingly rare instances when she feels herself compelled not to do so.
Acknowledging errors and the manner in which they occur both enables doctors to hold themselves accountable and promotes understanding that can lead to error prevention.