Assuming rigid control over patients’ health care and subjecting them to strict regimens without offering them a choice in the matter is frank paternalism. Moreover, proceeding with an invasive test without obtaining proper informed consent is malpractice.
Society values both the appropriate use of new technological and management innovations and the maintenance of a strong personal and therapeutic relationship between patients and physicians. The medical-home model may be able to accomplish both.
Katherine Gentry, MD, MA and Aaron Wightman, MD, MA
A patient’s refusal of tracheostomy during an anticipated difficult intubation prompts critical questions about how to best express respect for a pediatric patient’s autonomy and whether and when deviation from standard of care is clinically and ethically appropriate.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(8):E683-689. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.683.
Emergency medical consultations share with other emergencies the need for prompt action, potentially without information or tools ordinarily available.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(5):479-484. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.5.ecas1-1605.
This commentary on a case considers the ethical feasibility of palliative psychiatry in the care of patients with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E668-673. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.668.
My most important job is to help my patients (and their families) who are depressed, grieving, or angry following severe injury or illness to imagine possible narratives for the next chapter of life.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(6):500-505. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.6.ecas1-1506.
Dr Jo Ellen Wilson joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Drs Jennifer M. Connell and Maria C. Duggan: “Why We Must Prevent and Appropriately Manage Delirium.”