Medical Ethics Advisor – December 1, 2010
December 1, 2010
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Surrogate model focuses on substituted interests
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. -
ED physician highlights Muslim bioethics
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. -
End-of-life issues in the Jewish religion
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. -
TJC looks at caregiver communications
The Joint Commission's Center for Transforming Healthcare has teamed with 10 hospitals and healthcare systems to try to discover new solutions to the quality care problems associated with miscommunication between caregivers during hand-offs. -
Abortion conference hosts "open minds"
President Barack Obama's words on abortion to a graduating class in 2009 at Notre Dame inspired Charles C. Camosy, PhD, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fordham University in Bronx, NY, to consider "What if . . .?" -
ASBH goes forward with CEC certification
The American Society for Bioethics & Humanities is proceeding with plans to establish both a certification program for those who act as clinical ethics consultants and accreditation standards for bioethics programs at U.S. colleges,universities, and teaching hospitals. -
News Briefs: Docs not comfortable removing cardiac devices
According to a new survey, physicians were significantly less comfortable discussing withdrawal of pacemaker (PM) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy compared with other life-sustaining therapies, with about one-half stating that they were not comfortable having these conversations with patients, according to a new study published in HeartRhythm, a news release from the Heart Rhythm Society.