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More than half of rheumatologists who responded to a 2013 survey reported the high cost of treatment for their patients as an ethical concern.
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More data are being collected at the point of care with the goal of improving quality, but there is widespread uncertainty as to what kind of oversight quality improvement research requires.
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Some bioethicists are expanding their role beyond case consultation into organizational ethics, but may encounter barriers such as lack of support from leadership.
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Regularly scheduled peer review, surveys of stakeholders, and demonstration of continuous improvement of policies are some approaches to improve ethics consults.
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There is a need for bioethicists to educate patients and providers at extended care homes on end-of-life issues.
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With more terminally ill patients receiving care outside the hospital, in hospices, home health or in nursing homes, it is becoming increasingly common for emergency medical service (EMS) providers to encounter patients with advance directives or living wills that ask that they not be resuscitated or that certain lifesaving measures not be performed should their hearts stop beating.
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An Iowa district court judge has rescinded his order requiring a local Planned Parenthood clinic to turn over the names of women receiving positive pregnancy tests to law enforcement officials investigating the death of a newborn.
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The worsening nursing shortage is a crisis that can completely sink the struggling U.S. health care system if hospitals and other institutions dont do more to address the root causes of the shortage, health executives told government leaders last month.
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The patient Jan Daugherty was visiting at an Arizona long-term care facility was very near the end of his life. Barely able to move and unable to speak, he communicated only with his eyes, which brightened when she gave him a drink of water. Later during the visit, she was able to feed him three glasses of juice and two cups of ice cream.
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The list of people awaiting solid organ transplants grows, and more hospitals are turning to interdisciplinary teams of medical professionals, social workers, organ procurement experts, and family support personnel who are trained to work with families of potential organ donors to ensure that opportunities for donations are not missed. Research has shown that such efforts increase consents for organ donation.