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How Should Clinicians Minimize Harms and Maximize Benefits When Diagnosing and Treating Disorders Without Biomarkers?

Authors :
Tolchin, Benjamin
Tolchin, Dorothy W.
Stein, Michael Ashley
Source :
AMA Journal of Ethics. Jul2021, Vol. 23 Issue 7, p530-536. 7p.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Ethical obligations to minimize harms and maximize benefits of diagnosis and treatment of disorders without biomarkers include navigating difficult-to-measure, perhaps clinically inexplicable, symptoms. Among potential harms are public stigma, self-stigma, label avoidance, and the negative influence these stigmas have on selfesteem, quality of life, employment, and housing. Among potential benefits are patients becoming active agents in managing their illnesses, social acceptance, and access to evidence-based treatments. Ethical complexities clinicians face when trying to develop treatment plans while heeding key details from patients' narrative accounts prompt questions about how to best adhere to evidence in understudied domains of medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
23766980
Volume :
23
Issue :
7
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
AMA Journal of Ethics
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
151201917
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1001/amajethics.2021.530