At the end of December 2025, the American Medical Association (AMA) Journal of Ethics ceased its operations, now just a relic of the past. Its inception began in September 1999 with a journal theme entitled “Virtual Mentor Launches with a Nod to William Osler.” It references ethical decision-making, praise for Sir William Osler’s Aequanimitas, and the experience of the spoken word from a doctor to a patient’s ears. Its final issue is an exploration of aging and interpellation of what is defined as pathological old age. A fitting last theme for an aging, and now dead, institution.
The foundation of medical ethics
The application of ethics in medicine is why we have the contemporary Hippocratic tradition, the oath I took to cement my obligation to caring for patients and acting in their best interest. Medical ethics gave rise to consent with the Nuremberg Code, research ethics with the Declaration of Helsinki, and protection of autonomy with the Belmont Report.
It empowers us to prioritize human rights and challenge inequities. Medical ethics’ commitment to justice has set forth institutional safeguards for our patients, and its evolution has created the foundation for medicine as a force for good.
The unique role of ethics journals
Ethics journals specifically play a unique role in the academic landscape of medicine. They extract moral questions from harms, critique the norms that we take as doctrine, operationalize theory into ethical codes, and hold institutions accountable for wrongdoings and neutrality. These journals preserve the memory of past harm to ensure that our futures are shaped by justice and integrity. They are the necessary safeguards in academia that allow clinicians, hospitals, and systems to meaningfully interrogate the practices that can cause patient harm.
A cultural shift toward artificial intelligence
Concomitant with the decay of the AMA Journal of Ethics, the AMA launched a Center for Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This marks a cultural shift in the intellectual landscape of our professional body and sends a clear message of what the priority is.
The AI boom in our economy, bolstered by venture capitalists and Silicon Valley motivations, has rippled its way into many facets of our social sectors. Its presence is seen in education, where its intersection portends nefarious outcomes to our youth. Its presence is seen prominently in media where AI-created content has disseminated false information ecosystems. Its presence in medicine, perhaps most high stakes, is growing rapidly and operating with the goal of making health care delivery cheaper and faster. It reeks of industrialization, corporatization, and capitalism without transparency, equity, and regulation.
The ethical conundrum of AI in health care
The ethical conundrum of AI technologies has been postulated. Medical systems prioritize informed consent, but the mystery of AI tools and their inner workings complicate the way patients are informed of AI and its role in their care.
The grave concern of data privacy and health data, perhaps most consequential, needs further attention to the legal and ethical practices that safeguard it.
The growing reliance of clinicians toward use of AI for clinical decision-making poses a large threat to ownership over patient outcomes and safety. From clinical risk tools to automated documentation, our institutions and clinicians are trusting AI without knowing if it is something to be trusted.
A warning for the future of medicine
It is with sadness that I remark upon the AMA Journal of Ethics’ inaugural journal theme again: its nod to Sir William Osler. I attend the residency of his namesake. When I care for my patients, I do so with ethical responsibility, ethical sensibility, and ethical questioning.
The death of the AMA’s Journal of Medical Ethics marks an early prognosticator of what is to come soon. Now more than ever, the amplification of AI and its promised efficiency need pragmatic ethical involvement. As an early-career physician and resident, I worry that ethics is dying when we need it most.
Bhavya Ancha is an internal medicine resident.
