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Physicians in intensive care settings at times make the decision to withdraw life-supporting care from patients who are incapacitated and have no surrogate decision makers or advance directives.
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Preserving a patient's dignity is more important than some doctors think, according to a palliative care expert who points out that loss of dignity is one of the most common reasons patients seek out physician-hastened death.
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The American Medical Association has spoken out on two medical technology-related ethics issues, affirming that it is unethical to patent medical procedures and cautioning that the use of implantable radio frequency identification devices should come with a strong dose of caution to the user.
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Chronic pain has gathered increasing international attention as a human rights issue, and a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress in July seeks to mandate the right of chronic pain sufferers to education, treatment, and research into the condition.
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Spirituality has been tied to physical health throughout the history of cultures worldwide, but only recently has it been gaining new attention as a component of modern health care.
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While a grand jury in New Orleans has cleared otolaryngologist Anna Pou, MD, in the deaths of patients at Memorial Medical Center in the days following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, allegations that she and two nurses actively killed patients trapped in the hospital, some doctors fear, could deter health care providers from remaining at their posts in future disasters.
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With the implementation of health care reform passed in 2006, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to enact a law guaranteeing health insurance coverage to all its citizens.
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A Virginia physician who specialized in pain management has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for prescribed large amounts of opiates.
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Blogger beware some on-line medical diarists have found the benefits of sharing experiences and observations via their web logs ("blogs") can come at a cost.
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While most doctors might feel good about the idea of disclosing medical errors to patients, a University of Iowa researcher says fewer than half of the physicians and medical students his team surveyed actually have disclosed real medical errors.
