Critical skills required to weigh decisions with serious consequences, manipulate information rationally, and choose wisely are skills that are likely to be impaired by frontal lobe injury that results in personality change.
The AAP’s guidelines on lipid screening for children raise concerns about the fundamental purpose of prevention and its role in balancing individual autonomy with the benefits of society at large.
You are not just the rural patient’s doctor, you are the doctor for the football team, a friend, and perhaps a relative; you speak on health at local schools and are expected to attend fundraisers.
Patients with dementia need social supports and opportunities and acceptance of their disability in order to feel hopeful despite their functional decline.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(7):649-655. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.7.ecas2-1707.