Medical Ethics Advisor – September 1, 2011
September 1, 2011
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How present is the idiom 'off the record' in healthcare?
What is an ethical physician to do when a patient provides pertinent information but insists that it be kept "off the record?" While there is an expectation of confidentiality between doctor and patient, there are instances when a patient will only reveal certain information if the doctor agrees not to record it in their medical files. -
Study eyes EOL trends for Medicare patients
A new study from the Dartmouth Atlas Project seems to indicate the "report card" for Medicare patients at the end of life (EOL) is a mixed bag of pluses and minuses. -
Informed consent docs should be short, sweet
An in-depth review of consent forms provided to volunteers for HIV/AIDS research in the United States and abroad about study procedures, risks, and benefits has found that the forms were extremely long and used wording that might have been complex enough to hinder full understanding, according to bioethicists at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. -
Awards to honor palliative, EOL care
The Circle of Life Award celebrates programs across the nation that has made great strides in palliative and end-of-life care. This is the 12th year for the Circle of Life Award. -
Chatting about faith boosts patient approval
Hospitalized patients who had conversations about religion and spirituality with the healthcare team were the most satisfied with their overall care. -
Veterans, families, and end of life
About 25% of all Americans who are dying are veterans. Yet only 4% of dying veterans die within the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare Network; most veterans are cared for by hospice and healthcare professionals in the community. -
Obese children to be placed in foster care?
According to a commentary that appears in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), two Harvard doctors believe that severely obese children should be placed in foster care. -
Ethics office supports community researchers
Seeing a need for ethics guidance for local groups attempting to conduct community-based research, an organization in Kitchener, Ontario, has created an independent Community Research Ethics Office (CREO). -
Medical profession said hurt by violations
Doctors need to become more aware of how governments subtly, but profoundly, interfere with their professional obligations and results in patients' human rights being violated, says a law scholar at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics in Baltimore, MD, in a commentary recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). -
News Briefs
Bioethicist Steven Miles, MD, professor, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, has called for a renewal of military medical ethics in the United States.