AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Health consequences of social isolation and loneliness include worse morbidity and mortality, and “social prescribing” is one way to intervene.

John Meyer joins Ethics Talk to discuss how “human-centered” design can help remove barriers to care and forge solidarity between patients and clinicians, and multidisciplinary artist Eve Payor talks about her projects with the Atlantic Center for the Arts and how soundscape ecology can help us understand effective sound design in health care settings.

Most clinicians receive little training in integrating Native healing into allopathic practice, which undermines patients’ autonomy and cultural values.

Entrainment can distract from pain and offer a means of witnessing important health care experiences.

Alternative medicine practitioners may offer a more informative and satisfying relationship to patients, and the anecdotal support for alternative treatments’ rationales may have emotional appeal, but quack medicines cost money and cause harm. What really matters is whether a treatment can stand up to scientific testing.

The relationship between conventional and alternative medicine is wary at best. What is needed is expanded medicine, which encompasses the best that both kinds of medicine have to offer.

Even if a placebo is safe, it should not be employed as a way of mollifying patients or glossing over underlying causes of illness.

Unlike the medical doctor’s “unlimited” license, CAM practitioners have “limited” licensure that carves out a designated scope of practice.

Red yeast rice is an over-the-counter supplement, long used in China, that has shown lipid-lowering effects in trials. It has become popular among Americans but, until regulation and standardization improve, its use will remain controversial.

Respecting patient autonomy sometimes entails adult patients' making what those in allopathic medicine view as poor decisions, but compassionate patient communication can leave the door open for patients to change their minds.