Use of force in the care of patients with severe anorexia nervosa is controversial but can be justified when the disorder becomes life-threatening. However, even when forced treatment is ethically justified, care teams must navigate clinical and moral complexities, including…
This article focuses on uses of force in clinical settings after a triggering event a behavioral or medical crisis and considers how force should be implemented. The clinical stakes are high, as force can undermine therapeutic capacity in patient-clinician relationships,…
Responsibly determining whether and when to use potentially lifesaving force when caring for patients who are acutely mentally ill typically requires carefully applying 2 key ethical standards. First, short-term morbidity or mortality risk must be minimized. Second, potential long-term harm…
This commentary on a case suggests how palliative care psychiatry can facilitate compassionate resolution of ethical conflicts in end-of-life care decision making with persons with substance use disorders.
Palliative interventions are intended to alleviate suffering and improve quality, not quantity, of life and are not intended to cure illness. In psychiatry, uncertainty about which interventions count as palliative stems from the fact that psychiatry generally prioritizes symptom management…
American health care is rife with inequity in access to services. Even among people with insurance, inequity can result from insurers’ decisions about which services to cover. These decisions are often based on economic models that are seemingly objective but…
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) provides a formal assessment of trade-offs involving benefits, harms, and costs inherent in alternative options. CEA has been increasingly used to inform public and private organizations’ reimbursement decisions, benefit designs, and price negotiations worldwide. Despite the lack…
This article offers examples of how modeling can motivate health equity inquiry and research. This article also considers how equity fits into cost-effectiveness frameworks, how economic modeling can broaden the range of options for improving health equity, and how information…
Nosocomial infections are public health threats with often grave human costs. Because implementing screening and best outbreak response practices is costly for health care organizations, allocating resources for interventions requires consensus among stakeholders with a plurality of perspectives about how…
Novel interventions that are effective and safe but costly suggest the importance of questions about value, accessibility, and affordability. Economic evaluation is one useful tool that health care systems draw upon to help make investment decisions and set priorities. But…
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