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The sixth edition of the American College of Physicians' (ACP's) Ethics Manual addresses ethical decisions in clinical practice, teaching, and medical research, as well as the underlying principles and the physician's role in society and with colleagues.
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Medicare patients with advance directives specifying limits in treatment who lived in regions with higher levels of end-of-life spending were less likely to have an in-hospital death, averaged significantly lower end-of-life Medicare spending, and had significantly greater odds of hospice use than decedents without advance directives in these regions, according to a study in a recent issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
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The ethical and moral obligation of healthcare workers to provide informed consent to donors is usually vast, and somewhat cut and dried.
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An advisory board to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recommended that a proposal to hold pediatric trials of the anthrax vaccine be reviewed by an ethics board before proceeding.
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There is a new, controversial genetic test of a gene called Apolipoprotein E (APOE) on the horizon.
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A study published in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, says that informed consent sheets that are concise and written at lower reading comprehension levels, as well as videotaped presentations, work well in helping patients understand the risks, benefits, and treatment alternatives to cataract surgery.
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According to published research, a program created to communicate the treatment preferences of those with advanced illness or frailty ensures those preferences are honored 94% of the time. The Program, called Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST), was launched in Oregon almost 20 years ago.
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Many heart patients in India are too poor to afford pacemakers. However, a study has found that removing pacemakers from deceased Americans, resterilizing the devices, and implanting them in Indian patients "is very safe and effective."
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A new scoring system that can more accurately predict the life expectancy of a patient with advanced cancer in terms of "days," "weeks," and "months" is described in a study1 published in British Medical Journal.
