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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed new rules for hospitals that would protect patients' right to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay, including visitors who are same-sex domestic partners, according to CMS.
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There's no doubt that the debate over abortion is an integral part of not only family-centered discussions, but also the debates that occur on the left, on the right, and various points in the center on the political continuum.
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A study published in the August issue of Health Affairs suggests that there are no differences in patient outcomes when anesthesia services are provided by certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), physician anesthesiologists, or supervised by physicians, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) in Park Ridge, IL.
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"The paternalistic model assumes that there are shared objective criteria for determining what is best. Hence the physician can discern what is in the patient's best interest with limited patient participation . . . the physician acts as the patient's guardian, articulating and implementing what is best for the patient...The conception of patient autonomy is patient assent, either at the time or later, to the physician's determinations of what is best.""Four Models of the Physician-Patient Relationship." JAMA. April 22/29, 1992 Vol 267, No. 16.
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Internet research has been an issue for institutional review boards since its roots in the 1990s, and the challenges ethics boards face in reviewing such studies are in pioneer territory.
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While there are uncomplicated patient cases where physician-patient communication is fairly straightforward, such communication also can range to the other end of the continuum involving end-of-life care and related decision-making.
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It's not unusual for a patient to express a desire to go home when facing the end of life, say two experts interviewed by Medical Ethics Advisor. But the decision-making to allow this can be fraught with complexity, depending on the patient's medical condition and needs.
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While not every physician or nurse makes a decision to deviate from standard medical practice or rules and regulations governing that practice, it certainly does happen, according to John D. Banja, PhD, professor, department of rehabilitation medicine and medical ethicist, Center for Ethics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
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The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, Richard Doerflinger, suggests that following the passage of health care reform, "there's still a number of deficiencies in conscience protection."
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Four founding partners in a public-private collaboration to advance performance measurement in behavioral health on July 21 applauded The Joint Commission's (TJC) announcement of the next phase of the "Hospital-Based Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitals" (HBIPS) core measures initiative.
