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Some hospitals are now being required to inform living donors of the risks they face, fully evaluate their medical and psychological suitability, and track their health for years after donation.
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will put more emphasis on both comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and this raises important ethical considerations, according to Gary E. Jones, PhD, JD, professor in the Philosophy Department at University of San Diego (CA).
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Explantation of battery-operated implants such as pacemakers involves pressing ethical issues but receives little attention, according to Katrina A. Bramstedt, PhD, a clinical ethicist and associate professor at Bond University School of Medicine in Australia, and former faculty in the Department of Bioethics at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH.
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Both autonomy and the law favor allowing patients access to their medical records, and there are clearly associated benefits, says Gregory R. Moore, MD, MPH, senior director at Stamps Health Services at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
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There is still "a good deal of confusion" about what informed consent and shared decision-making really are, according to Howard Brody, MD, PhD, John P. McGovern Centennial Chair in Family Medicine and director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
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Patient autonomy and parental rights are two primary ethical concerns involving access to emergency contraception, which was recently approved with over-the-counter status without age restriction.
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Clinical ethicists typically play an advisory role, and their recommendations arent always accepted or followed by the clinical team.
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Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Montana now allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who meet certain criteria and request lethal prescriptions.
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Social media provides significant opportunities in medical practice, but ethical concerns include inappropriate use, which threatens the relationship between physicians and patients.
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The Supreme Courts recent ruling that DNA is a product of nature and not patent-eligible is expected to lower prices and make genetic tests more accessible to larger segments of the population.