Articles Tagged With:
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Some IRB Policies Unfairly Exclude People with Uncertain Decision-Making Capacity
Many IRB policies exclude individuals with impaired decision-making capacity, raising ethical and civil rights concerns. Researchers and ethicists advocate for inclusion, reassessment of capacity, and accommodations to ensure fair participation while balancing risk, consent, and autonomy.
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New Ethics Training Approaches Better Prepare Medical Students for Reality
Medical schools are adopting innovative ethics training methods, such as resident-led case conferences and humanities-based end-of-life education. These programs connect ethical principles to real clinical practice, helping trainees handle complex issues such as futility, patient autonomy, and dying patients.
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Growing Demand for Ethics Expertise to Evaluate AI Tools Before Use in Healthcare
Ethicists increasingly are needed to guide the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Their expertise ensures fairness, privacy protection, bias reduction, and patient-centered care, bridging gaps often overlooked in technical and business evaluations.
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Infectious Disease Updates
Eradication of Polio Around the World; Candida auris in Dialysis Facilities: How Great Is the Risk?
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Community-Acquired Pneumonia Guidelines: Updates and Disputes
An update of elements of community-acquired pneumonia guidelines have been published. Of note is that these were not endorsed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America because of disagreement over recommendations for empiric antibiotic administration to some patient subsets with positive tests for respiratory viral infection.
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Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Children
A large Danish cohort study of 1.2 million children found no association between cumulative aluminum exposure from childhood vaccines and increased risk for autoimmune, atopic/allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders, adding to nearly a century of safety data for aluminum adjuvants, although the study’s findings have been the subject of public debate about interpretation of secondary analyses.
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Routine Boosting Against Tetanus and Diphtheria in Adults: A Time to Reconsider
Slifka and colleagues make a strong argument against the routine booster vaccination of adults against tetanus and diphtheria as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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The Health and Economic Burden of Long COVID in the United States
Researchers using a computational simulation model found that the current health and economic burden of long COVID already exceeds the cost of several chronic diseases and will continue to grow as COVID-19 cases increase.
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Purl Decision Affects HIPAA Compliance, Reproductive Health
A recent court ruling has a significant effect on HIPAA compliance as it pertains to reproductive health. It can be seen as relief from a rule that some criticized as burdensome and unnecessary. When the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization prompted states to restrict access to reproductive health services, Health and Human Services issued a rule strengthening reproductive health privacy protections under HIPAA.
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Court Upholds Record $207 Million Malpractice Verdict
In July 2025, an appellate court unanimously affirmed a record-breaking medical malpractice judgment of $207 million against a hospital for catastrophic birth injuries. The case involved a newborn who sustained severe brain damage leading to cerebral palsy and profound lifelong disabilities after a mishandled delivery at the hospital. A jury had awarded $183 million (later increased to $207 million with delay damages) for the child’s future care needs and pain and suffering. On appeal, the hospital argued that the verdict was exorbitant and unsupported, but the appellate court held that the award did not “shock the conscience” in light of the trial evidence.