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Some lawmakers in Massachusetts have introduced legislation that would make the state the first in the nation to impose an outright ban on all pharmaceutical marketing gifts to physicians. The bill also seeks statewide adoption of electronic medical records.
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The health care community has long endorsed staff and patients speaking up when necessary to protect patient safety, but in the heat of the moment, a staff member can be intimidated by superiors and fearful of rocking the boat.
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Before you hand patients free samples of prescription drugs, consider that the sample that saves them money now may end up costing them in the long run, according to research that indicates patients who receive free drug samples from their doctors have significantly higher out-of-pocket prescription costs than those who don't.
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If you serve on your hospital's ethics committee, does that make you a medical ethicist?
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It's the ethical spectre that emerges with every advance in genetic testing. Should children be tested for gene mutations that predispose them to developing serious illnesses later in life?
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Clinical research teams and investigators may find that their traditional strategies for handling incidental findings during a trial are inadequate in this age of genetic research.
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Calls to legalize marijuana for medical use have come from an assortment of groups, but none with the status and influence of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country's second-largest medical association, until now.
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Lots has been written about physicians' unwillingness to report medical errors, but findings from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggest it's not a lack of honesty and ethics at work it's a lack of confidence in current reporting systems.
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Placebos have been a part of medicine since ancient times, and remain both clinically relevant and philosophically interesting, according to a University of Chicago medical student whose research has shown that 45% of Chicago-area internists use placebos in their practice.
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A paper reporting the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) association's position on how far doctors can go in conscientious refusal to perform abortions and prescribe emergency contraception is an attack on "pro-life" physicians, according to two medical associations.
