When patients are unable to express their wishes and do not have surrogates or advance directives, which and whose values should inform decision making for them? We discuss ethical complexities of caring for unrepresented patients.
Changes made in 2017 to the World Medical Association Physician’s Pledge strive to keep in step with geopolitical trends by addressing patient autonomy and collegiality.
AMA J Ethics. 2019; 21(9):E796-800. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.796.
US immigration policy contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which all United Nations member nations have ratified except the United States. The convention recognizes that children need special assistance and legal protection and prohibits deprivation of liberty.
AMA J Ethics. 2019; 21(1):E58-66. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.58.
This graphic storybook portrays an undocumented child in the United States who is denied fundamental human rights to health care, education, shelter, and food.
AMA J Ethics. 2019; 21(1):E111-112. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.111.
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.
William M. Hart, MD, Patricia Doerr, MD, Yuxiao Qian, MD, and Peggy M. McNaull, MD
When errors happen, too often clinicians are at odds with each other about how to respond to a patient or a patient’s loved ones after that patient suffers harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2020; 22(4):E298-304. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.298.
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.