Eleanor Fleming, PhD, DDS, MPH, Julie Frantsve-Hawley, PhD, and Myechia Minter-Jordan, MD, MBA
Continued separation of dental and oral health from general medical care generates unnecessary prescriptions and pain management that are neither restorative nor responsive to patients’ primary complaints.
AMA J Ethics. 2022;24(1):E48-56. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2022.48.
Assuming rigid control over patients’ health care and subjecting them to strict regimens without offering them a choice in the matter is frank paternalism. Moreover, proceeding with an invasive test without obtaining proper informed consent is malpractice.
Consideration of what constitutes sufficient information about how donation protocols can interfere with a patient’s dying process is a key feature of consent processes.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(8):E708-716. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.708.