What can comic art about illness and health care offer patients and families as they navigate health challenges? This month on Ethics Talk, we discuss why comic art is a unique and powerful medium for communicating about difficult and emotional encounters with illness and health care.
False clinical and ethical dilemmas may be created when physicians ignore patient characteristics and contexts that are integral to shared decision making.
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(2):141-146. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.2.ecas1-1702.
The total concentration, power tools, and high stakes of the OR provided an exciting escape from the world I was supposed to occupy and from which I was supposed to derive my deepest satisfaction as a woman.
In clinical settings, chaplains are key communicators who help mediate between patients, families, and the medical team. This month on Ethics Talk, we explore how chaplains help patients and families articulate their goals and navigate logistical and emotional challenges that arise in the hospital.
Awareness of transference reactions, practicing active listening and reflection, pausing, and articulating one’s understanding of another’s emotional motivations can help cultivate deeper patient-clinician relationships at the end of life.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(8):E717-723. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.717.
If health information is private, why do we know so much about Prince’s death? Critical legal and ethical questions remain unsettled about whether and when it is appropriate for medical examiners or coroners to release information from autopsy reports to the public.
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(8):839-842. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.msoc2-1608.
The authors address the medical ethics question of whether autopsy is necessary from Cartesian and sociocultural perspectives and how to obtain consent.
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(8):771-778. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.ecas2-1608.
Cytopathologists frequently interact directly with patients at their bedsides to perform fine needle aspiration procedures. When, if ever, should cytopathologists share preliminary diagnostic impressions directly with patients?
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(8):779-785. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.ecas3-1608.