Medical Ethics Advisor – December 1, 2023
December 1, 2023
View Issues
-
Family/Clinician Conflicts Are Top Reason for Pediatric Ethics Consults
Conflicts between family members and clinicians are the most common issue addressed during ethics consults, according to a group of researchers. This article discusses implications for clinicians and ethics consultants.
-
Doctors Pressured to Participate in Grateful Patient Fundraising
Physicians are struggling with ethical responses if asked to participate in “grateful patient” fundraising for hospitals/health systems. This article discusses a new ACEP paper that addresses this ethically controversial practice.
-
Ethics Committees Are Adding Community Members
This article covers effective approaches regarding ethics committees adding community members to their ranks.
-
Ethical Guidance for Autism Genomics Research
Autism genomics research raises some unique ethical concerns. The story will report on new ethics recommendations.
-
Ethics Committees Obligated To Consider Diverse Study Populations
By the time research ethics committees review a study protocol, it’s largely complete, so ethicists often are reluctant to bring up the issue of whether the study populations are diverse. The author discusses new guidance for how ethics committees can take on this role.
-
IRB Websites Are a Helpful Resource for Undergraduate Research Ethics
The way IRBs communicate about research ethics varies widely depending on the institution. This article will explore what this means for researchers.
-
Knowledge Gap on Direct-to-Consumer Genomic Testing Is an Ethical Worry
Most U.S. companies that offer direct-to-consumer lab tests are not compliant with patient privacy regulations and acknowledge that consumer data could be used by third parties, according to a group of researchers. This article explores ethical concerns.
-
Patient Privacy Is Ethical Concern with DTC Tests
Many people assume that companies offering direct-to-consumer lab tests protect their privacy just as a doctor’s office would. However, this is not necessarily the case.
-
Ethical Concerns with Unilateral Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders
Unilateral do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders, which are DNR orders placed by clinicians without consent of patients or surrogates, pose some unique ethical concerns. During the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, some clinicians had concerns about how these orders were being used.
-
Ethicists Can Find Consensus over Patient’s DNR Status
With very few exceptions, patients have the right to not be resuscitated, and healthcare providers have the duty to respect those wishes. This article discusses how the family and clinical team come to a consensus about the patient’s DNR status.
-
Education – and an EMR Tab – Boosts Advance Care Planning
Educating patients on advance care planning (ACP) and documenting this education is within the scope of nursing. This article outlines a quality improvement project to educate nurses on the importance of ACP.
-
Ethical Guidance Needed for Social Media Data in Research
Many public health researchers use YouTube data in their research, but ethical practices are unclear.
-
Researchers Focus on Readability of Informed Consent Forms
Informed consent forms in research studies are required to include a concise “key information” section. However, not all the key information sections were easy to comprehend, according to a group of researchers.