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.
Not all cultural traditions have the same conception of personhood. In Confucianism, self-individuation takes place only through engagement with others in the context of one’s social roles and relationships.
Sara Scarlet, MD and Selwyn O. Rogers, Jr., MD, MPH
Pervasive and recurrent gun violence compels health care organizations to integrate violence prevention, intervention, and recidivism reduction as critical dimensions of good trauma care.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(5):483-491. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.5.msoc2-1805.
Hanni Stoklosa, MD, MPH, Marti MacGibbon, CADC-II, ACRPS, and Joseph Stoklosa, MD
Clinicians diagnosing and treating potentially trafficked patients with co-occurring addiction and mental illness should guard against expressing negative biases.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(1):23-24. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.1.ecas3-1701.
Violence reduction efforts should be modeled on noncontagious diseases, which have as their root cause environmental determinants, not contagious diseases.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(5):513-515. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.5.corr1-1805.
Gary Slutkin, MD, Charles Ransford, MPP, and Daria Zvetina
Violence reduction efforts should focus on interrupting transmission of violence and changing behaviors rather than mitigating environmental risk factors.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(5):516-519. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.5.corr2-1805.
Carrie A. Bohnert, MPA, Aaron W. Calhoun, MD, and Olivia F. Mittel, MD, MS
Research and training are needed so that physicians are able to identify human trafficking victims and refer them to appropriate trauma-informed treatment.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(1):35-42. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.1.ecas4-1701.
Despite challenges of decision making for unrepresented patients, few laws or policy statements offer solutions. This article offers 5 key things to do.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(7):E582-586. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.582.