During one 2014 Ebola epidemic, arrival of “safe burial” teams was often delayed. Some buried their loved ones themselves, which undermined containment efforts.
AMA J Ethics. 2020;22(1):E5-9. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2020.5.
Annette Mendola, PhD and Richard L. Gibson, MD, MPH
Because research on the efficacy of approaches to addiction recovery is inconclusive, clinicians should recommend several, including 12-step approaches.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(6):646-655. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.6.sect1-1606.
Physicians tend to rely on diagnostic criteria, including BMI, that can influence patients’ access to care, referrals, and insurance coverage for indicated interventions.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E507-513. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.507.
Diagnostic utility of weight and body mass index is widely overestimated, and their use as health and wellness measures can be sources of iatrogenic harm.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(7):E540-544. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.540.
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.
Richard Weinmeyer, JD, MA, MPhil, Annalise Norling, Margaret Kawarski, and Estelle Higgins
Although the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 is effective in reducing contaminants to safe levels in public drinking water, its administration and enforcement poses challenges.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(10):1018-1026. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.10.hlaw1-1710.
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.
Jonathan Treem, MD, Joel Yager, MD, and Jennifer L. Gaudiani, MD, CEDS-S
Some individuals with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa experience dramatically degraded quality of life in the face of refractory illness and compulsory treatment.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(9):E703-709. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.703.