A video on the art of disclosing medical errors, created by an ethicist at Emory University in Atlanta, is being made available for free on-line viewing.
When the topic of medical ethics comes up in conversation or literature, it usually refers to the ethics of providing direct patient care. But the ethics of hospital trustees have a profound influence on the delivery of care and the overall health of nonprofit hospitals, and yet there has been very little examination of the ethics of trusteeship.
Early medical researchers were an ethical bunch, possibly because they had little choice. Many conducted experiments and tests on themselves (including one who snaked a catheter through his arm and into his heart, then climbed two flights of stairs to take an X-ray to prove a person could survive cardiac catheterization), because the researchers couldnt bring themselves to do untested procedures on others.
New findings by researchers at the National Institutes of Health show that minorities participate in health research studies at the same rate as non-Hispanic whites when they are made aware of the study and meet the medical requirements.
The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued new ethical guidelines to help physicians balance public health goals with the interests of individual patients during epidemics.
As the spectrum of end-of-life issues continues to expand, more and more questions arise for clinicians working with patients, families, and institutions.
There is little evidence to support the argument that legalizing physician-assisted death would reduce patients trust in their doctors, according to researchers at Wake Forest (NC) University Baptist Medical Center.
For various reasons pain, fear, or control patients sometimes consider ending their lives; occasionally, they even ask their doctors for help. But ethicists say, before responding to the question as asked, physicians first should look at what might be going on behind the question.
Given enough experience and patience, a physician can become adept at dealing with patients who they find noncompliant or overly demanding. But how does a clinician deal with a patient he or she finds utterly intolerable to be around someone who is abusive, insulting, or completely unlikable?
One of your patients is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer and is struggling with severe nausea. She tells you she wants to add acupuncture to her regimen of care; you have never been convinced that acupuncture provides benefits. What is your duty to the patient?
