As high-tech care decisions led to value clashes in hospital corridors, ethics committees developed to respond to diverse viewpoints, families’ concerns, and clinicians’ moral distress. They now exist in almost all US health care organizations.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(5):546-553. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.5.mhst1-1605.
A gynecologic oncology ethics education program intended to engage students and foster open exchange was designed after review of ethics consults at a tertiary cancer center over a 15-year period.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(9):834-838. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.9.medu1-1509.
The social institutions of medicine and the state have a complex history of interaction in which doctors have been the originators of political ideals, goals, and social change but equally often have found themselves to be instruments of political authority.
For a medical school admissions committee to consider social networking activities during the selection process without informing candidates would violate the principles of transparency and consistency and could lead to worthy applications being rejected.
An ethical case explores whether a first-year resident could excuse herself from training that requires her to examine or treat genitorectal areas of males due to her Islamic religion and her future plans to only treat children and adult women.
An African American physician recounts the life experiences that led to her career choice and discusses the potential impact of a caregiver's race or ethnicity on patient-physician communication.