Medical Ethics Advisor – June 1, 2023
June 1, 2023
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The Joint Commission’s Updated Ethics Standards Spark Debate
The Joint Commission could play a role in elevating the professionalism and value of ethics programs nationally with some enhanced standards, encouraging formal attention to best practices and evaluation — and evolving toward the possibility of more rigor over time.
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Ethics Work Affects Entire Hospital: Data Can Prove It
Ethics work aligns with many issues that are top of mind for hospital leaders. How can ethicists measure that?
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Nurse Champion Role Helps Identify Ethics Issues
With the right training and advocacy, nurses can identify and address ethical issues, along with moral distress. They might be more willing to speak up about ethical issues encountered in daily practice and identify institutional resources to assist.
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Magnet Program Emphasizes Ethics in Patient Care
Ethics is included in the program’s foundational items, which must be in place for the hospital to be certified as a Magnet hospital. The organizational overview requirement mandates the hospital to create policies and procedures that address patient ethical issues.
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Advance Care Planning Can Lower Odds of Aggressive End-of-Life Treatment
Advance care planning was associated with significantly lower odds of indicators of aggressive end-of-life care (i.e., hospital death, hospital admissions, intensive care, delayed hospice referrals, and chemotherapy). Cancer patients who engaged in advance care planning were 50% more likely to complete Do Not Resuscitate orders compared to cancer patients without an advance directive.
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Is Death Imminent? Conflicts Occur if Clinicians Do Not Make It Clear
Poor communication on prognosis prevents the family from making decisions based on the true situation. If surrogates do not realize death is imminent, they cannot plan for hospice care or contact family members to be there for the patient’s last moments.
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Ethical End-of-Life Care for Homeless Patients
Clinicians should acknowledge their own potential bias and avoid using language in the medical record that is stigmatizing. Also, they can request an ethics consult before making any decision to not provide care for a patient experiencing homelessness.
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Lack of Transparency on Informed Consent Documents Complicates Oncology Trials
Researchers should describe the potential benefits and risks of participating in the trial compared with potential benefits and risks of receiving standard treatment outside the trial. Also, strive to write consent forms that highlight the key issues involved in the decision to join a trial.
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Ethical Misconduct Is Main Reason for Retracted Autism Studies
There have been quite a few retractions of studies in the past few years as it has become easier to automatically scan for faulty or manipulated data. There is a concern the pressure to publish can lead a small group of scientists to commit fraud rather than pursue the truth. Overall, this remains a fairly uncommon occurrence, but any fraud is disturbing.
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Did Study End Early? There Is an Ethical Obligation to Participants
Research participants consent to take on risk for the benefit of others, not for their own benefit. If a trial ends prematurely, researchers should tell participants. Investigators also must ensure any risks participants accepted are mitigated to the fullest extent possible.
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Ethical Considerations When Using Gene-Editing Treatment for Sickle Cell Disease
Like any other treatment, it is important patients are aware of limitations, but without crushing their hopes that a cure might be feasible.
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Ethical Problems When Using Artificial Intelligence Assistance During Surgery
AI-assisted surgery raises some of the same ethical issues as similar tools in healthcare, such as bias and data privacy. However, some problems are specific to surgery.
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Emerging Ethical Issues to Consider When Conducting Community-Engaged Research
Does the community representative possibly have a conflict of interest? How will any monetary incentives to participate in the study be distributed? Is the incentive for individual patients or the whole community?