Medical Ethics Advisor – March 1, 2021
March 1, 2021
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Patients, Families Viewing Ethics Consult Notes in Real Time
In reading ethics notes, clinicians often glean insights on how the ethics service contributes to patient care. Patients, along with their surrogates and proxies, will be able to learn from such consultations. For some ethicists, this may be a good time to reassess the goals of ethics notes.
Court Ruling on Life Support Withdrawal Affects Ethics Committees
Hospitals may need to afford more procedural due process when deciding on whether to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment without consent.
Ethics Services Want to Know How Consult Data Compare to Other Hospitals
Ethics services often struggle to obtain data to improve the quality of consults even at their own hospitals, let alone outside institutions. Yet some ethicists are forging ahead with this challenging proposition, trying to move from the qualitative to the quantitative.
Routine Ethics Consults Helpful if ECMO Is Considered
When a patient is placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), usually emergently, families have begun to face the gravity of the situation. Suddenly, ECMO offers new hope. Even though the primary team explains ECMO will be a time-limited trial and a bridge to recovery, transplant, or device, many families remain focused only on the possibility of hope.
Frail Older Patients Receiving Higher-Intensity End-of-Life Care
There is an opportunity for targeted interventions for all older patients, especially frail older adults, undergoing emergency general surgery to establish better prognostic understanding and discuss advance care planning before hospital discharge.
Ongoing Ethical Concerns with Misleading Advertising by Cancer Centers
Recent guidance outlines ethical concerns when cancer centers advertise directly to the public. The authors recommend these centers ensure fair and balanced promotion of cancer services, avoid exaggeration of claims, and provide data and statistics to support direct and implied assertions of treatment success.
Surrogates’ Authority Varies on Mental Health Treatment Decision-Making
Ethicists should be familiar with their respective jurisdictions’ statutes and case law, especially those whose health systems cross state borders.
Altruism Is Factor in Perceived Ethical Obligation to Share Health Data
Research participation often is viewed as a selfless act, with participants enrolling in studies with little expectation of reward or benefit in return. The assumption is most participate with the anticipation findings from research will help others. Investigators explored if this perception also was true in terms of allowing one’s health information to be used.
Nurse Leaders Report Ethical Dilemmas Related to Patient Care, Work Environment
Patient care issues and work environment issues require critical reasoning. Nurse leaders need help with both of these issues. Ethicists could help by taking a more active role in developing educational content for nurse leaders.
Nurse ‘Ambassador’ Programs Pose Significant Ethical Concerns
Nurses who are approached by a drug company for this kind of position should think twice about becoming involved in this new role. Consider the ethical challenges that may present. Discuss with the company how to handle these.