Clinicians and organizations in the health sector have healing missions, and physicians, specifically, take oaths to “do no harm.” Yet, paradoxically, health care operations contribute to pollution and exacerbate environmental disease burden. This article offers a view of how health…
Health care generates a lot of waste that enters landfills, oceans, and incinerators and adversely affects the health of persons and communities close to waste processing and disposal areas. This article considers the nature and scope of individuals’ and organizations’…
Pharmaceutical companies’ capital, influence, and labor force well equip them to assume responsibility for public medication disposal programs. Government- and industry-funded campaigns for medication disposal do work, but responsibility often falls on local health care organizations to provide education and…
Health care waste is a global problem. While most health care waste is harmless, some of it is hazardous. The volume of hazardous waste generated worldwide is enormous, and its disposal can be environmentally damaging. This article discusses how such…
Mismanagement of hospital waste can release harmful, deleterious contaminants into soil, water, and air. Irresponsible or noncompliant handling of health care waste can have far-reaching environmental and public relations consequences. This article describes legal, safe, sustainable health care waste stream…
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications have attracted considerable ethical attention for good reasons. Although AI models might advance human welfare in unprecedented ways, progress will not occur without substantial risks. This article considers 3 such risks: system malfunctions, privacy protections, and…
How hospital lawyers assess legal risk in clinically and ethically complex cases can shape risk management operations, influence clinicians’ morale, and affect the care patients receive. This article suggests that many disagreements, particularly those involving key ethical and legal questions…
Medical rapid response teams, now ubiquitous throughout hospitals, were designed to identify and proactively treat early warning signs of acute medical decompensation. Behavioral emergencies including clinical psychiatric emergencies, coping/stress reactions, and iatrogenic injuriesare not responded to with the same vigor….
This activity is comprised of five multiple-choice questions based on the content of an AMA Journal of Ethics podcast about the shortage of geriatric psychiatrists and how cross-specialty training can prepare clinicians of all specialties to care for geriatric patients….
This activity is comprised of five multiple-choice questions based on the content of an AMA Journal of Ethics podcast about how patients can be harmed by BMI surgical guidelines and what to do if it happens to you. The featured…
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