Medical Ethics Advisor – January 1, 2007
January 1, 2007
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No resuscitation for severely premature infants says British bioethics council
A paper released in November by a British bioethics council has generated hot debate and headlines warning "disabled babies to be killed at birth," but the guidelines set out by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics regarding the treatment of babies born severely premature are similar to those observed in many states in the United States. -
Don't miss medical futility audio conference
When do you withhold or discontinue life-prolonging treatment in cases deemed medically futile? As baby boomers age, the critical issues surrounding these cases will require advance planning and establishment of guidelines. -
What neuroethics is and what it means are evolving
In its infancy, neuroethics was thought of as simply a small offshoot of the bigger field of bioethics. In the last five years, however, interest in and study of neuroethics has taken on a life of its own, spawning studies, conferences, and the establishment of a society to further the development of the field. The term "neuroethics" is believed to have been coined in the literature in the early 1990s. -
Nonprescription sales of Plan B still murky waters
The recent federal approval of nonprescription sales of the emergency contraceptive Plan B (Barr Laboratories; Woodcliffe Lake, NJ) to women and men ages 18 and older may have quieted what was a brewing controversy in emergency medicine. However, the ethical issues that gave rise to the debate still are very much in play, emergency department (ED) experts say. -
E-mail between patients and docs slow to catch on
Only about one in four physicians in the United States use e-mail to communicate clinical information to patients, and one reason may be a lack of effective means of billing for e-mail time. But some say they don't yet know enough about what quality of care can be delivered via patients' e-mail inboxes. -
Age, race may influence pain management in EDs
A patient's race, age, and medical condition may affect whether or not they receive pain medications in the emergency department (ED), according to a study of adults who presented to an emergency department with musculoskeletal pain. -
'Teach back' technique improves patient safety
Good physician-patient communication does much more than eliminate the need for repeated visits. Effective communication has been demonstrated to result in better outcomes, greater patient satisfaction, and decreased likelihood of lawsuits.