Articles Tagged With:
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An Approach to Palliative Care in the Emergency Department
Emergency physicians play a critical role in recognizing the need for and initiating early palliative care interventions, often at the most pivotal moments in a patient’s illness. By addressing symptoms such as dyspnea, pain, nausea, and constipation early and effectively, and by guiding conversations around goals of care, emergency providers can greatly enhance the quality of life for patients with serious or terminal illnesses.
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Homelessness Raises Unique Ethical Concerns on End-of-Life Care
Homelessness complicates end-of-life care because of isolation, surrogate scarcity, and structural barriers. Ethicists should collaborate with interprofessional teams to ensure respectful, context-aware care and advocate for inclusive policies addressing this vulnerable population’s needs.
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Study Investigators Provide Research Ethics Training to Community Members
Tailored ethics training empowers community and youth researchers to engage meaningfully in human subjects research. These programs foster inclusion, mutual respect, and ethical literacy, enabling more equitable, participant-informed research processes and Institutional Review Board engagement.
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IRBs Inconsistently Assess Scientific Merit
Institutional Review Boards inconsistently assess scientific merit, risking participant harm and ethical breaches. Lack of standardization, expertise gaps, and institutional conflicts undermine protections. Ethicists can advocate for rigorous review standards and transparent, participant-centered protocols.
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Psychiatric Patient Capacity Evaluations Likely Highlight Other Ethical Issues
Psychiatric capacity evaluations often involve hidden ethical challenges, such as treatment refusal, surrogate ambiguity, and racial bias. Ethicists assist in contextualizing decisions, preserving autonomy, and supporting providers in ethically fraught scenarios involving complex patient values.
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Ethical Debate Continues Over Access to Investigational Cell- and Gene-Based Interventions
Expanded access to unapproved gene and cell therapies raises ethical concerns around safety, informed consent, fairness, and regulatory compliance. Ethicists help balance compassionate access with clinical oversight, protecting vulnerable populations amid rapidly advancing science.
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Root Causes of Moral Distress Vary; Ethicists Can Help
Moral distress in clinicians stems from ethical dilemmas, hostile environments, and systemic failures. Ethicists play a crucial role in identifying causes, facilitating dialogue, and supporting clinicians in navigating distress, especially in high-stakes fields such as radiology and pediatrics.
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Most Direct-to-Consumer Cancer Ads Are Non-Compliant with Ethical Guidelines
Most direct-to-consumer cancer center ads fail ethical standards, often misleading patients with unrealistic claims, false hope, and unclear clinical trial eligibility. This raises concerns about misinformation, inequity, and insufficient regulatory enforcement in healthcare marketing.
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Is Sex Still an Important Variable in Stroke Risk with Atrial Fibrillation?
An analysis of a very large database of patients with recent-onset atrial fibrillation has shown that whether sex was included in the formulas to predict thromboembolic risk and guide the use of oral anticoagulants probably is not as important as it was decades ago.
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New Injectable Cholesterol-Lowering Drug Trial
A comparison of inclisiran therapy to placebo and ezetimibe therapy over six months in primary prevention patients at low risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and not taking lipid-lowering therapy has shown that inclisiran subcutaneously every six months reduces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol more than ezetimibe and is comparable to the reported results of high-dose statins taken daily.