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Off-label use common, not always backed by data; Study says fewer doctors providing charity care; EDs report greater shortage on-call specialist coverage
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The link between patients' spirituality and their response to medical treatment is gaining more attention, and according to a recent study, more than nine out of 10 doctors surveyed believe it is appropriate to discuss spiritual or religious issues when a patient brings them up.
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The Bush administration's projections of the potential impact of an avian flu pandemic expose the enormity of the ethical issues that come with any plan for rationing and distributing vaccine.
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Spirituality is recognized as a factor that many patients say contributes to their health; but now experts even some who previously had doubts are embracing patients and their own spirituality as an essential part of treatment.
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The case of an 11-year-old Massachusetts girl, Haleigh Poutre, who suffered severe brain trauma last year as the result of abuse and is now in the custody of the state, has opened up discussion on withdrawing life support in pediatric patients who are diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS).
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If faced with the threat of SARS, avian flu or another epidemic, most Americans would consider quarantine a good idea but they wouldnt approve of strong enforcement. That is one American attitude toward quarantine described by Harvard public health researchers who studied U.S. attitudes about quarantine.
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The Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) has issued a position statement rejecting current administration policy promoting abstinence-only education for young people, urging U.S. educators to present abstinence as one important option in an overall sexual health prevention strategy.
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The nations largest hospital accreditation organization has issued a new warning aiming to reduce harmful incidents arising from inaccurate delivery of medications.
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If a grateful patient presented you with one of his Aunt Marys special fruitcakes during the holidays, it was probably pretty obvious that such a gift presents no ethical dilemma.
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Though the Supreme Courts recent ruling in Gonzales v. Oregon says more about physicians authority to write prescriptions than about the right of states to pass laws permitting physician-assisted suicide (PAS), proponents of Oregons Death with Dignity law welcomed the ruling as a victory for physician discretion and patient autonomy.