Medical Ethics Advisor – December 1, 2004
December 1, 2004
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Are nonprofit hospitals preying on the uninsured?
To the attorneys, the question of whether nonprofit hospitals are living up to their mission to provide health care to those who cant afford it is purely a consumer-protection question. But to a physician who blew the whistle on one hospital, its much more of a human question. -
Flu vaccine for HCWs: Compliance, liability issues
The severe nationwide shortage of killed flu vaccine has put a stop, at least temporarily, to initiatives in some places that would force health care workers to be vaccinated or risk their jobs, but some health care experts warn that the solution advocated by at least one state that health care workers forego the vaccine entirely so that more is available for higher-risk groups could be dangerous to the very people it aims to protect. -
Hands off or on when it comes to patient care?
For as long as humans have been taking care of other humans who are sick or hurt, the rendering of solace and physical comfort has been the core from which all other types of aid have grown. But a nurse and ethicist in California says that ignoring the value of giving of solace and comfort amounts to turning away from the prime reason for the practice of medicine. -
Taking a history on new physician hires
The new staff physician hired by your hospital has more than just years of experience and clinical fluency under his belt. He also has a conviction for felony drug possession. But if you are in one of 35 states that do not require criminal background checks of physicians, you might not find out. -
Readers Write
Following our inclusion of an article on the role of patients spirituality in their medical care, we received a letter from Chaplain Steve Pyle, director of pastoral care at Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, AR. Chaplain Pyle made some insightful comments about our article and included suggestions that we intend to incorporate into future articles on the topic of patients beliefs and their health care. -
News Briefs
CDC appoints ethicists to study flu vaccine shortfall; Internet-brokered kidney transplant raises questions; New stiff penalties for violating HIPAA rules.