Weight loss is not a safe, effective, or permanent method of health promotion, and pharmacotherapeutical approaches pose specific risks to adolescents.
Physicians’ ethical obligations to disclose conflicts of interest to patients and to obtain their informed consent for treatment are particularly critical when proposed treatments are experimental.
A case that illustrates how Western medicine's body or mind approach to diagnosis and treatment can differ from that of many patients from non-Western cultures.
Luc Aston, a resident, tests positive for tuberculosis. Commentary discusses his ethical responsibility to get treatment. Parveen Parmar, MD, writes that Luc has the privilege of being a physician only so long as he protects the health of his patients.
Jonathan Finkelstein, M.D., writes a clinical case commentary about the ethics of prescribing antibiotics for pediatric patients on parental demand. He explains the physician’s obligation to end inappropriate use of antibiotics through sound prescribing.
A physician argues that accepting free drug samples leads to higher out-of-pocket costs for patients and urges other physicians to find different ways to help low-income patients save money on their prescription medications.