Not all cultural traditions have the same conception of personhood. In Confucianism, self-individuation takes place only through engagement with others in the context of one’s social roles and relationships.
The history of Western medicine chronicles a tension between ideologies of patient care—the holistic Hippocratic view and the specialization view, with a depersonalization of the patient that coincides with the rise of pathologic anatomy in the early modern era.
Patrick S. Phelan, Mary C. Politi, PhD, and Christopher J. Dy, MD, MPH
During immediate and long-term recovery periods, decisions must account for patients’ personal goals and possible clinical outcomes and should clarify what recovery means.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E380-387. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.380.
Legacy patients are so-called because their opioid use behaviors express past, aggressive opioid prescribing by a clinician. Managing their pain and dependence justly is ethically complex.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E651-657. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.651.
Jennifer D. Byrne, LCSW, CADC, Katie S. Clancy, MSW, and Isabell Ciszewski, LCSW
Social work perspectives on whether prescribers should authorize opioid refills emphasize the importance of multidisciplinary approaches to patient self-determination.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(8):E658-663. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.658.
Mary Perkinson, DMA, Vaishali Phatak, PhD, and Meghan K. Ramirez
There is evidence of the benefits of music for health and wellness, but current US clinical practice does not yet commonly incorporate arts-based interventions.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(7):E611-616. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.611.