Medical Ethics Advisor – April 1, 2004
April 1, 2004
View Issues
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Treating substance abuse during pregnancy: What approach works?
In recent years, efforts to address substance abuse among pregnant women have moved from being barely visible public health initiatives to controversial political battlegrounds. -
Ethical questions raised by emergency blood trial
Paramedics in the Denver area will be administering an experimental blood substitute to patients who meet certain criteria under an unusual research protocol that allows patients to be recruited without giving informed consent. -
Should dying patients be research subjects?
An experimental blood oxygenation device has the potential to help thousands of patients with severe emphysema or other lung conditions. The device has been thoroughly tested in laboratory animals, but human trials would involve major invasive procedures for research participants and place them at very high risk of death or serious complications. -
Study questions true extent of ‘trial effect’
A new study from researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston indicates that a long-held belief among oncologists that patients who participate in clinical trials have better outcomes overall than those who do not may not be supported by empirical evidence. -
AMA releases report on insurance coverage ethics
Removing financial incentives to providers and employers that are designed to influence coverage decisions and recruiting patient representatives to participate in designing health care benefit packages are two measures that can help ensure that health care coverage decisions are fair and equitable, says a new report from an independent research arm of the American Medical Association (AMA) in Chicago.