To improve health outcomes, the science and practice of medicine must move quickly in response to new information. Yet, in other important ways, health professionals must operate slowly and in a mode of intentional stillness to center empathy and light…
Crisis intervention team (CIT) programs are partnerships between police and mental health community members developed with little involvement from psychiatrists. This article argues that psychiatrists should be one of the CIT program leaders to facilitate the transfer of persons in…
Waste generated by health care includes harmful emissions and often disproportionately affects already vulnerable communities. Justly restructuring health care waste management involves better understanding key drivers of waste production, using sustainability as an ethical value to guide disposal decisions and…
A warming climate poses substantial risk to public health and worsens existing health inequity. As a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, the health sector has obligations and ample opportunities to protect health by decreasing waste and motivating…
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…
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