Hosted by Editor in Chief Lorenzo Norris, MD, Psychcast features mental health care professionals discussing the issues that most affect psychiatry.
May 22, 2019
For more MDedge Podcasts go to mdedge.com/podcasts
In part II of this Psychcast Masterclass, Patricia Westmoreland, MD, returns to discuss severe, enduring eating disorders, including management and ethical questions.
In Dr. RK this week, Renee Kohanksi explores the impact of censorship and self-censorship.
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Show Notes
By Jacqueline Posada, MD, 4th-year resident in the department of psychiatry & behavioral sciences at George Washington University, Washington.
Guest
Patricia Westmoreland, MD, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Denver, Aurora; attending psychiatrist for Eating Recovery Center, Denver; adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver.
Dr. Westmoreland spoke at the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists 2019 annual meeting in Chicago, sponsored by Global Academy for Medical Education (GAME). GAME and the MDedge Psychcast are owned by the same company.
Harm reduction, palliative care, and futility
Ethics and futility:
When to say “enough is enough”? In anorexia nervosa (AN), frequently, many treatments have been implemented, and there may be no cure.
Cynthia Geppert, MD, MPH, a health care ethicist and a professor of psychiatry and internal medicine at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, who wrote in the American Journal of Bioethics: “Futility and chronic anorexia nervosa: A concept whose time has not yet come,” argues against futility:
In support of futility, Cushla McKinney, PhD, of the biochemistry department at University of Otago (New Zealand), argues against the complete rejection of the concept of futility, saying it risks forcing a small and chronic group of patients into an intolerable situation.
Illustrative case of AG, a 29-year-old female with chronic AN, who had a guardian for medical decision making:
Emerging concerns:
Is anorexia nervosa an end-stage illness or not? How will physician aid-in-dying overlap with AN? Do eating disorder patients have the capacity to request aid-in-dying, and what is the physician obligation?
References
Eddy J. Recovery from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa at 22-year follow-up. Clin Psychiatry. 2017 Feb;78(2):184-9.
Sjostrand M et al. Ethical deliberations about involuntary treatment: Interviews with Swedish psychiatrists. BMC Med Ethics. 2015;16:37.
Geppert C. Futility in chronic anorexia nervosa: A concept whose time has not yet come. Am J Bioethics. 2015. 15(17):34-43.
Cushla M. Is resistance (n)ever futile? A response to “Futility in chronic anorexia nervosa: A concept whose time has not yet come,” by Cynthia Geppert. Am J Bioethics. 2015 Jul 6. 15(7):53-4.