Medical Ethics Advisor – November 1, 2016

November 1, 2016

• Conflicts on Prognosis Occur Over Half the Time Between Physicians and Surrogate Decision-Makers

  Conflicts between physicians and surrogate decision-makers involving the patient’s prognosis occur more than half the time, according to a recent study.

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• New Palliative Care Policy Aims to Reduce Barriers

  A new palliative care policy statement from a leading heart and stroke organization aims to reduce barriers that prevent many patients from receiving palliative care.

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• Provide High-Quality Ethics Education on a Limited Budget

  Medical institutions didn’t always understand the importance of ethics to physician training, notes Timothy Lahey, MD, MMSc, chair of the clinical ethics committee at Lebanon, NH-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and associate professor at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.

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• Physicians Paid to Refer Patients: ‘Fundamental and Clear’ Ethical Violation

  The nonprofit hospital system Broward Health in Florida recently agreed to pay $70 million to settle allegations that it engaged in “improper financial relationships” under laws prohibiting kickbacks for patient referrals.

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• New Report Examines Ethics of Gene Drive Research

  A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examines the ethics of gene drive research.

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• Drastic Surge in Drug Prices: ‘Unethical and Immoral’

  A new business model is emerging in which pharmaceutical companies buy the rights to a drug, then raise the price dramatically. Often, the drugs are produced by one manufacturer, with few or no alternatives.

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