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Close-up of gavel and scope resting on a desk.
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2 Min Read

Medicine and the law: Important ethical questions

The practice of medicine can raise ethical and legal concepts. How should physicians address the treatment of undocumented patients, unauthorized use of DNA, and protecting health information?

Ethics
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2 Min Read

Critical questions for physicians on the ethics of organ transplants

Organ transplants can raise many ethical questions for physicians working to save lives. How should physicians deal with disparities in access, patients who have liver disease, and compromised organs?

Ethics
Unbalanced scales of justice.
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In patient-centered care, where does family fit?

The opinions of family members can affect a patient’s decisions about medical care. How can a physician respect the patient’s wishes while including family members in health care? Articles provide insights into patient-and family-centered care.

Ethics
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2 Min Read

The ethical demands of 21st-century clinical research

What should the ethics of clinical research look like as biomedical science advances? The December issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics explores the roles of physicians and patients in improving the art and science of medicine in the 21st century.

Ethics
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2 Min Read

New era of high-value care meets medical ethics

Medicine is entering the era of high-value care—and physician stewardship is at its core. Should a physician provide care that may only be marginally beneficial because a patient requests it? Learn about other questions and physicians’ ethical obligations in managing health care resources.

Ethics
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Medicine's role in preserving human rights and civil liberties

Each day physicians treat patients of all ethnicities and backgrounds who face limitations in their ability to access health care and receive quality treatment. Physicians must be dedicated to ensuring that non-medically relevant differences do not alter how patients are treated or the care they receive.

Ethics
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2 Min Read

A look at ethics in the treatment of women's cancer

The malignancies treated in the subspecialty of gynecologic oncology often are aggressive, recurrent and incurable. Many ethical concerns relate to the fact they frequently occur in young women, and their prevention and treatment entail radical surgeries and side effects that can alter the remainder of a woman’s life.

Ethics
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2 Min Read

How the “profit motive” affects American medicine

The United States has a market-based, capitalist system, which means market forces—including the profit motives of corporate interests—can shape the delivery of and payment for medical services. Read about this quintessentially American topic and its implications for medical ethics.

Ethics
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2 Min Read

How patient care has changed in the ACA era: Ethical perspectives

More than 16 million people have been covered by insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The July issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics seeks to help physicians understand what the ACA means for patient care, clinical research, physician specialty choice and payment.

Ethics