AMA Journal of Ethics^®

Massachusetts legislation limiting supply of first-time opioid prescriptions creates opportunity for interprofessional collaboration on drug policy.

The new Veterans Health Administration policy on the use of medical marijuana was brought about by patient advocacy in 2010.

Because knowledge about the efficacy of long-term opioid use is lacking, decisions about opioid treatment for chronic nonmalignant pain should be guided by a six-step decision making process that is based in clinical ethics.

Effective patient-physician communication requires that the physician show empathy, express concern, be sensitive to nonverbal communication, and, more generally, follow the Golden Rule.

The first women’s movement in the mid-nineteenth century endorsed anesthesia during childbirth and some of the very patterns of obstetric practice that became anathema to the natural childbirth movement a century later.

Given full information about the risks of long-term opioid therapy, patients often see the value of exploring other options rather than thinking their physicians are reluctant to prescribe narcotics for fear of litigation or regulatory action.

Anesthesiology developed into a profession in the first third of the twentieth century with the establishment of professorships, training programs, board certification, and journals in anesthesiology and advances in delivering and in understanding the effects of anesthesia.

Reducing racial disparities in pain treatment requires an interdisciplinary approach to identifying causes of racial biases and teaching health care professionals to recognize and reduce them.

Narcotics contracts, which stipulate patient responsibilities in exchange for opiate treatment of pain, may strike some patients as onerous, but they are a good way of reducing the risk of abuse or diversion of prescription drugs while still ensuring patients get pain relief.

There are numerous state and federal laws designed to protect against misuse and diversion of prescription drugs that apply to patients' behavior, physicians' prescribing practices, and dispensing.