When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.
Physicians should provide women considering abortion after Down syndrome screening with unbiased information and not attempt to influence their decision.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(4):359-364. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.ecas1-1604.
A guardian’s request to sterilize a woman with intellectual disabilities is not ethically justifiable unless the woman assents and it is to her benefit.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(4):365-372. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.ecas2-1604.
William M. Hart, MD, Patricia Doerr, MD, Yuxiao Qian, MD, and Peggy M. McNaull, MD
When errors happen, too often clinicians are at odds with each other about how to respond to a patient or a patient’s loved ones after that patient suffers harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(4):E298-304. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.298.
Sara Scarlet, MD, MPH and Elizabeth B. Dreesen, MD
Anesthesiologists regularly take breaks during operations, but surgeons do so rarely. Current literature describes the influence of breaks on attention, focus, and stamina.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(4):E312-318. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.312.
Shared decision making is practically difficult to implement in mental health practice but remains an ethical ideal for motivating therapeutic capacity.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(5):E446-451. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.446.
Drs Katrina Bramstedt and Ana Iltis discuss the development of QoL assessment tools to help patient-subjects considering reconstructive transplantation.