Medical Ethics
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Physicians’ Well-Being Top Ethics Issue
Ethicists should encourage their organizations to survey physicians to identify which factors are adversely affecting well-being. Meaningful change cannot occur without actively engaging physicians in determining what changes they believe will significantly improve their health and well-being.
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Ethicists Can Intervene if Patient/Physician Relationship Is Beyond Repair
It is important to remember that if serious conflict with a patient arises, clinicians should not act in a knee-jerk way. A primary care practitioner might use ethics practice guidelines to create a consistent approach for dealing with these cases.
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How to Respond to a Consult Request for ‘Difficult’ Family
Clinicians sometimes overlook the fact there are many contributing factors when a patient or family member displays “difficult” behavior. Ethicists can help clinicians parse those, recognize their own internal biases, and think about the family’s perspective.
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Out of Options: When Parents Abandon Pediatric Psychiatric Patients at Hospital
Parents often are faced with an impossible choice. They must decide whether to bring home a child who poses a threat to self and others, or risk a child abandonment charge. The criteria for acute psychiatric hospitalization are so high that children might be discharged only to be rehospitalized within weeks or days — and retraumatized in the process.
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More Transparency Might Bolster Trust in FDA Advisory Committees
The FDA does not always convene an advisory committee meeting in connection with application reviews, but may do so when questions related to safety or the data submitted to support approval arise. In the modern environment, some believe if they cannot see it, foul play must be afoot. Some of that could be allayed by transparency and more public education.
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Study: New Physicians Develop Financial Ties Quickly
Earlier recognition and intervention during graduate medical education to improve professionalism and systems-based practice skills may limit future conflicts of interest with industry.
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For Researchers Using Social Media Data, Consent Is Ethical Worry
Researchers struggle with the ethical implications of sharing information that enables Twitter users to be identified. More guidance is needed from IRBs, as there does not seem to be a consensus on best practice in terms of research ethics.
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IRBs Likely Need Outside Expertise When Reviewing Xenotransplantation Study Protocols
An enthusiastic surgeon who wants to initiate a clinical trial for xenotransplantation may, in their enthusiasm, minimize the potential problems to the IRB. The surgeon might win approval, but the IRB might lack the expertise to know if they are receiving all the facts.
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Informed Consent Is Central Ethical Issue for Studies of Pig Organ Transplants
Existing policies for human research subject protection might not be adequate for these trials, mainly because there are so many unknowns with outcomes in humans.
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Ethical Oversight of Chimeric Research
A key concern is whether evidence will emerge indicating significant functional changes in the cognition and behavior of nonhuman animals that contain human cells. If so, it may be difficult to resolve ethical issues regarding the moral status of those chimeric animals.