Word Choices is a mixed-media digital illustration that explores the importance of clinicians’ word choices during their encounters with patients. Clinicians often face ethical questions about sharing information with vulnerable patients.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(10):E904-905. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.904.
Like most extreme behaviors, excessive videogame playing functions as a cover or adaptive mechanism for underlying anxiety and depression. Compulsive gaming, like all pathological solutions (alcohol, drugs, gambling) makes a bad situation worse.
Distinguishing between elective and therapeutic abortions undermines the moral agency of patients and disproportionately amplifies moral rather than medical dimensions of the procedure.
AMA J Ethics. 2018;20(12):E1175-1180. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1175.
Physicians should provide women considering abortion after Down syndrome screening with unbiased information and not attempt to influence their decision.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(4):359-364. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.4.ecas1-1604.
Labels commonly used in clinical settings, like “elective” or “therapeutic,” influence how we think about the justifiability of abortion. We talk with Professor Katie Watson and Dr Maryl Sackeim about how the language clinicians use to describe abortion can affect patients’ experiences and even cause harm.