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….
The opioid epidemic challenges current attitudes toward pain management and necessitates the reexamination of the World Health Organization (WHO) 3-step analgesic ladder, introduced in 1986 for cancer pain management. Surgical treatment of pain is a logical extension of the original…
Shared decision making (SDM) is difficult to implement in mental health practice, but it remains an ethical ideal for motivating therapeutic capacity in patient-clinician relationships; this discrepancy warrants attention from clinical and ethical perspectives. This article explores what some clinicians…
Conflict arises when surgeons and anesthesiologists disagree about goals of care in perioperative settings. Collaboration is essential for safe, efficient, and effective care. Drawing on 2 pediatric cases that highlight risks of anesthetic exposure, this article examines the influence of…
Cancer continues to be a prominent cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many LMICs, however, lack adequate data to better understand and respond to trends in cancer incidence. This article highlights crucial roles that government…
© 2026
American Board of Medical Specialties | Policies | Sitemap | Terms of Use | www.abms.org
