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.
Decision making in health care demands that we balance multiple considerations, like quality of life, statistics, and how different options could affect others. Dr Brian Zikmund-Fisher shares his own experience as a patient and explains how decision science can help us navigate ethically complex health decisions.
Like most extreme behaviors, excessive videogame playing functions as a cover or adaptive mechanism for underlying anxiety and depression. Compulsive gaming, like all pathological solutions (alcohol, drugs, gambling) makes a bad situation worse.
This case poses two important questions. First, do schools have the right or the duty to monitor students’ health status measures and require action from parents and, second, what is the role of a student’s primary care physician in this context?