Balancing parents' rights to raise their children and a state's duty to protect children is no easy task. Even though most states have religious exemptions to child abuse or neglect laws, courts have ruled in favor of both parents and states, depending on the circumstances.
Nontherapeutic infant male circumcision is not medically or ethically justifiable and should be deferred until the person is able to decide for himself.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(8):815-824. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.8.msoc2-1708.
This poster on a screening method for symptoms and their relation to population health won honorable mention in the 2017 Conley Art of Medicine Contest.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(2):197-198. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.2.imhl2-1802.
The guidelines for patients’ eligibility for bariatric surgery have not changed since 1991, although recent data suggest there may be indications for broadening application of the surgery.
David S. Rosenthal, MD and Anne M. Doherty-Gilman, MPH
Integrative medicine combines the best of both conventional and evidence-based CAM therapies for treatment, wellness, and prevention. 61 percent of cancer survivors have used CAM.
Wayne Vaught argues that physicians have an ethical obligation to treat CAM fairly, which means subjecting it to standards that are as rigorous but not more so than those applied to conventional medicine.