Physicians’ ethical obligation to ensure communities’ access to safe drinking water has roots in their expertise, social authority, and role as mediators.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(10):1027-1035. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.10.pfor1-1710.
Physician advocacy for climate change mitigation is justified by seven criteria including physicians’ efficacy, expertise, public trust, and proximity.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(12):1202-1210. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.12.msoc1-1712.
Climate change mitigation reforms of government policy, medical curricula, and health professions organizations should be the focus of physician advocacy.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(12):1222-1237. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.12.sect1-1712.
The stigma associated with HIV has diminished with its spread among the heterosexual population and the development of effective treatments. This normalization may justify assuming a more traditional public health perspective about mandatory prenatal screening.
The adverse health effects of climate change should be the focus of physician advocacy efforts and of conversations between physicians and their patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(12):1174-1182. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.12.ecas3-1712.
Richard Weinmeyer, JD, MA, MPhil, Annalise Norling, Margaret Kawarski, and Estelle Higgins
Although the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 is effective in reducing contaminants to safe levels in public drinking water, its administration and enforcement poses challenges.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(10):1018-1026. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.10.hlaw1-1710.
Gerald M. Oppenheimer, PhD, MPH and Ronald Bayer, PhD
The alarm generated by the AIDS epidemic left civil liberties proponents fearful that traditional public health responses might be imposed on newly susceptible or infected populations.