Medical Ethics Advisor – November 1, 2011
November 1, 2011
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Gearing up for the worst for the mentally impaired
Planning for a disaster is always important and necessary, and probably even more so when the disaster affects the mentally impaired in a hospital setting. -
Ethics guidelines for pandemics
According to a follow-up study in the American Journal of Public Health, few states in the United States have properly addressed ethical issues surrounding pandemic flu preparedness in recent years. -
Changes to Common Rule could affect biobanks
For years, federal regulations have deemed the research use of deidentified blood and tissue samples collected in clinical procedures to be non-human subjects research, and therefore, they have not required informed consent from the patients from whom they were taken. -
Training surgeons and informed consent
According to a study that appears in Archives of Surgery, between 85% and 94% of patients were willing to sign forms permitting medical residents to assist surgeons, but many will not consent to giving residents a major role during surgery.1 Fewer patients consented when the form offered more detailed information about the education level or role of the student. -
Parents weren't told link between error and death
The question of whether to inform patients of a previous provider's error was highlighted recently in a discussion posted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). -
Reporting responsibilities of incidental findings
The manner in which investigators, research institutions, and review boards handle incidental findings has evolved in recent years, with a consensus now forming around the belief that research sites have an ethical responsibility when it comes to reporting certain incidental findings to research subjects. -
Should line be drawn against gallows humor?
Doctors and other medical professionals occasionally joke about their patients' problems. Some of these jokes are clearly wrong, but some joking between medical professionals is not only ethical, but it actually can be beneficial, concludes an article in the Hastings Center Report.