Almost 100% of pediatricians in a recent survey said serious medical errors should be disclosed to patient's families, with almost all saying making that admission to parents would be difficult.
Are internal defibrillators and pacemakers biofixtures, like artificial hearts, that should not be deactivated when a patient is dying? Or are they like any other external device for example, supplemental oxygen that are protective of life but employed at the discretion of the user?
Most physicians polled for a recent study say they feel an obligation to present all options to patients seeking legal but controversial procedures that the physicians object to, but more than one-quarter say they would not feel compelled to refer the patient to a doctor who did not object to the objectionable procedure.
At the end of life, there often comes a point when there's nothing more, clinically, that can be done. That's when the music starts for some patients.
Some doctors are prescribing the off-label use of antipsychotic medications approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder without strong evidence that they are effective when prescribed instead for dementia, depression, and other psychiatric disorders, according to a government analysis.
A large, national review of patients presenting to emergency departments with chest pain surprised researchers with what it revealed about disparities in how chest pain patients are evaluated.
An elderly or frail yet competent patient refuses treatment and insists on returning home, where he or she lives alone or with an equally elderly or frail relative.
Much of America heard about the "Ashley treatment" in late 2006, upon publication of an article detailing the growth-attenuation measures taken in 2004 in the case of a then-6-year-old, severely developmentally disabled Seattle-area girl whose parents sought medical help that might ensure that she could be comfortable and that they could care for her as she grew older.
Full disclosure of information to patients about their illnesses and treatment is considered the cornerstone of patient autonomy; patients capable of making their own health care decisions can only do so if they have enough information to weigh the risks and benefits of treatment.
North Carolina's governor, state agencies, and courts were forced to examine the state's capital punishment laws following the release of a position paper from the North Carolina Medical Board (NCMB) in January that effectively prevents physicians from actively participating in executions.
