During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinician policy makers have faced unprecedented challenges. This commentary responds to a fictional case of a clinician policy maker who heads the Office of the Surgeon General and must ponder the answers to these questions: (1)…
Clinicians using governing authority to make public health policy are ethically obliged to draw upon scientific and clinical information that accords with professional standards. Just as the First Amendment does not protect clinicians who provide advice that fails to express…
In this video edition of Ethics Talk, journal editor in chief, Dr Audiey Kao, talks with Dr Alister Martin about the important role of health care professionals and organizations in helping patients get registered to vote especially during this COVID-19…
Understanding papal documents from the 15th century and the nature and scope of their authority is important when working with Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities influenced by forces and structures of colonialism. Intergenerational trauma has deep roots, which…
Qualitative data can supplement and contextualize quantitative data and can be useful in disability determinations to help clinicians gain fuller understanding of patients’ experiences of chronic illness or disability. This commentary response to a case suggests the importance for patient-centered…
In this video edition of Ethics Talk, journal editor in chief, Dr Audiey Kao, talks with Azadeh Shahshahani about health ethics breaches in US detention centers and how health professionals should respond to them.
Within biomedicine, the diagnosis of disease is often privileged over a patient’s experience of illness. Yet, up to 30% of primary care visits might be attributable to persistent illness without a diagnosed disease, including functional somatic syndromes like fibromyalgia and…
Tension between naming gender dysphoria to render an important kind of suffering among transgender people more visible and avoiding pathologizing experiences of transgender people in a gender-binary world can be keenly felt among patients seeking gender-affirming services. This article suggests…
Integrating primary and oral health care is critical to improving population health and addressing health inequity exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) movement focused on building consensus for the PCMH model among diverse stakeholders…
Most medical schools and primary care residency programs do not teach proper oral examination skills. Despite the existence of proven national oral health curricula for medical professionals, many medical trainees and graduates are ill-equipped to identify oral cancers, make proper…
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