Introduction of an intervention that reduces the perceived risk of a given behavior may cause a person to increase risky behavior—this is called “risk compensation.”
Dr L. Syd M Johnson joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Drs Hope Ferdowsian and Jessica Pierce: “How One Health Instrumentalizes Nonhuman Animals.”
Physicians have a responsibility to assess elderly patients for conditions that could affect their ability to drive safely and to be familiar with state laws that govern physician duty to report impaired drivers.
Physicians have a professional obligation and, in many states, a legal duty to report drivers whose functional or cognitive impairments may pose a safety hazard.
State laws often require physicians to report suspected abuse and assault, creating a dilemma for physicians who must not only treat the injured patient but act as an informant to police.
The concept stewardship borrows from collective action problems that cannot be solved by individuals only, just like those discussed in environmental ethics.
AMA J Ethics. 2024;26(6):E479-485. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2024.479.
Several recent court cases illustrate how some states are attempting to mandate physician reporting of all underage sexual activity as instances of child abuse.