Remembering medicine's past, and discussion of deprescribing

Philip Masters, MD, FACP, continues his monthly column at KevinMD. In one post, he reflects on a conference he attended that focused on physicians' pseudomedical experiments on prisoners of Nazi concentration camps. Such history can inform the need to be alert to current challenges to the integrity of the ethical foundations upon which physicians base their profession, Dr. Masters writes: “What is clear is that as physicians, it is imperative that we constantly remember our past in order to protect the future of medicine.”

In another post, Dr. Masters looks at the complex issue of stopping or at least reducing unnecessary or inappropriate prescription medications. “Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an easy solution to this problem,” Dr. Masters writes. “However, good medical practice dictates that all of us—specialists, subspecialists, emergency physicians, and hospital-based clinicians, in addition to primary care physicians—perform due diligence in our use of medications by intentionally and thoughtfully considering our prescribing practices with each patient.”