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.
Efrat Lelkes, MD, Angira Patel, MD, MPH, Anna Joong, MD, and Jeffrey G. Gossett, MD
Current policy requires separate informed consent for some Public Health Service increased-risk donors, and this can make shared decision making harder.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(5):E401-407. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.401.
Shared decision making honors patient autonomy, particularly for preference-sensitive care decisions and even when patients have impaired decision-making capacity.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(5):E358-364. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.358.
Frances Grimstad, MD, MS and Elizabeth Boskey, PhD, MPH, MSSW, LICSW
Gender-affirming surgery for teens is growing as a field. Norms about who should be involved, to what extent, and for which health decisions are still evolving.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(5):E452-457. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.452.
As larger organizations become more influential in the health care sector, the Code can help physicians navigate those organizations’ influence on their practices.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(3):E217-220. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.217.
Upcoding and misrepresenting clinical information constitute fraud, cost a lot, and can result in patient harm and unnecessary procedures and prescriptions.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(3):E221-231. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.221.
Corporatization in health care has complicated clinicians’ and organizations’ efforts to balance interests of individual patients against an organization’s bottom line.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(3):E187-192. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.187.