Medical Ethics Advisor – October 1, 2008
October 1, 2008
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Kaiser Permanente adopts new ethics approach, hiring staff ethicists
One health care provider is using its approach to ethics to combat what one ethics leader in the organization calls "a perfect storm" of intense regulatory scrutiny, increased litigation, a large population of chronically ill patients in hospitals for long periods of time, and public mistrust of the health care system. -
Regulators increase scrutiny of clinical research
Considering the question of whether there are new challenges, new laws, or new ways of looking at ethical decisions for institutional review boards, one major organization chair responsible for IRBs, responds: "I think its kind of ratcheted up over the years, thats for sure." -
When is an inducement 'undue?'Is a payment ever coercive?
From a bioethical perspective, payments to research participants are complicated, an expert says. -
The right to withdraw: What does it really mean?
Every study participant has seen some variation of this assurance in informed consent documents: "You are free to participate in this research or to withdraw at any time without penalty or loss of benefits you are entitled to receive." -
NHPCO call to action on palliative care
The National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has issued a "call to action" and position statement outlining that organizations expectation that palliative care will become available to all patients in critical care settings. -
From the NHPCO’s position statement
Access to Palliative Care in Critical Care Settings: A Call to Action -
Beaumont Hospitals relies on personal referrals
As with many professional positions, personal referrals from other health care providers are what typically lead to an opportunity to serve on the ethics committee at Beaumont Hospitals in Royal Oak, MI. -
News Briefs
Members of the American Psychological Association in Washington, DC, have approved a resolution to prohibit psychologists from working in settings where "persons are held outside of, or in violation of, either International Law or the U.S. Constitution."