Alexander Craig, MPhil and Elizabeth Dzeng, MD, PhD, MPH
Responding to “Added Points of Concern about Caring for Dying Patients,” authors argue that physicians’ refusal to prescribe lethal drugs in accordance with states’ death with dignity laws could damage patient-physician relationships and harm patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(11):E1110-1112. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1110.
Childbirth in hospitals settings is considered by some to be medicalized and not natural. When medicalization is associated with loss of autonomy and control, clinicians should be aware of how they express respect for women during in-hospital births.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1168-1174. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1168.
Professional society guidelines can be used to set standards for clinical practice instead of government. This approach could help if federal or state policymakers view discarding embryos as ethically equivalent to abortion.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1160-1167. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1160.
Elder self-neglect can be assessed with the Elder Self-Neglect Assessment (ESNA) and addressed by physicians’ partnering with patients to achieve common goals.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(10):1047-1050. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.10.corr2-1710.
Life extension requires careful consideration of resource scarcity, justice, and what, if anything, is intrinsic to the experiences we define as human.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(5):E470-474. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.470.
Prevention efforts can marginalize patients by stigmatizing certain behaviors, so distinguishing individual professionals’ preferences about those behaviors is critical.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(6):E536-539. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.536.
Global health outreach programs can risk benefitting students from resource-rich areas of the world more than the patients in resource-poor areas of the world. This month’s episode of Ethics Talk explores an alternative to academic health center-based health outreach programs.
Michele C. Gornick, PhD, MA and Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, PhD, MA
How information is provided can change a choice. Decision science helps reveal affective forecasting errors and can generate choices congruent with patients’ and families’ values.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(10):E906-912. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.906.