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The American medical community has been "fixated for so long on the preferences of patients" that not enough attention has been paid to the "fact that most of the decisions" at end of life are being made by surrogates not by the patients themselves, suggests Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and the Divinity School, as well as associate director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago.
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As a way of addressing the potential for disparities in the delivery of health care services, U.S. physicians would do well to approach each patient individually, focusing on that particular patient's religious and cultural values, according to a paper published in November.
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Judaism is practiced in many diverse ways in the United States, yet sometimes even non-practicing Jews still observe Jewish laws at the end of life, suggests Barry Kinzbrunner, MD, chief medical officer for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care in Miami.
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The boarding of patients in hospital emergency departments occurs every day across the country and is not atypical, experts suggest.
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Influenza vaccination of healthcare personnel is a professional and ethical responsibility and non-compliance with healthcare facility policies regarding vaccination should not be tolerated, argues the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
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In recent years, cardiac devices have become a factor in end-of-life decision-making for ethics consultants. When do you turn off a cardiac device that may keep a patient alive after, for example, the patient has become comatose?
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When Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City began looking at implementing palliative care and end-of-life services, the case management department was the appropriate place to start, says Anita Bell, RN, MEd CHPN, palliative care coordinator at the 508-bed facility.
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While considering the "community" in community-engaged research may add new issues for IRBs to consider, they're not in this job alone.
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The Endocrine Society has released a new clinical practice guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). The guideline features a series of evidence-based clinical recommendations developed by an expert task force.
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It's not unusual for soldiers who have returned from war never to discuss the war with their families or friends, creating an aura of mystery or a sense that their loved ones somehow cannot fully understand them now that they have returned to civilian life.
