AMA Journal of Ethics. June 2018

This month in Journal of Ethics

Ethics in Burn Care

Burn injuries present numerous clinical and ethical complexities for caregivers and patients. Discourse on ethical decision making in burn care tends to focus on a few topics, such as end-of-life practices and how to regard consent, refusal, and other expressions of autonomy following Dax Cowart’s case in 1973. The June 2018 issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics will revisit these issues with new perspectives and also explore ethical questions including, but not limited to, expressions of bias in burn care settings, pain management, surgical education practices, the nature and scope of clinicians' roles in burn prevention, whether and when live donor grafts are appropriate, and how to prioritize and weigh values such as survival, function, and cosmesis.

Is It Ethical to Treat Pain Differently in Children and Adults with Burns? Commentary by Sharmila Dissanaike, MD Clinicians’ discomfort with pain reiterates the importance of following guidelines about individualized approaches to managing all patients’ pain.

A Model to Improve Detection of Nonaccidental Pediatric Burns Lauren C. Nigro, MD, Michael J. Feldman, MD, Robin L. Foster, MD, and Andrea L. Pozez, MD One multidisciplinary method could provide a more consistent and reliable method for identifying cases of suspected abuse.

Ask Me about My Pearls: Burn Care, Ethics, and Creative Writing Debra Ann Reilly, MD and Steve Langan, MFA Physicians’ creative writing is a form of narrative ethics that can promote their well-being and build their capacity to more deeply engage burn patients and caregivers.

Defining Adequate Quality and Safety Metrics for Burn Care Laura S. Johnson, MD and Jeffrey W. Shupp, MD Burn care specialists walk a fine line between providing individualized care and applying population-based quality metrics.

Upcoming Issues

July Religion and Spirituality in Health Care Practice

August Ethics, Policy, and the Roles of Physicians in Care of the Dying

September Ethics in Precision Health

October Health and Food Ethics

November False Beliefs in Health Care

December Physicians’ Power to Name