Medical Ethics Advisor – April 1, 2025

Ethicists Can Explore Rationale if Physician Refuses to Continue Life-Prolonging Interventions

Many ethics consults center around a conflict between a family who wants to continue life-prolonging interventions and a physician who refuses to provide it. But does the family understand the rationale for the decision?

Nurses Self-Report High Levels of Moral Courage, but Few Are Willing to Act Directly

Nurses reported significant social and professional barriers to act in response to an ethical violation, a recent study found.

Ethical Considerations if AI Tools Are Used for Informed Consent

Participants in clinical trials often struggle to comprehend informed consent forms, raising questions on whether they are making truly informed decisions. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are a potential solution to this longstanding ethical concern. However, the burden is on researchers to ensure that AI-generated documents uphold ethical and regulatory standards.

Educational Intervention Improves Older Latinos’ End-of-Life Care Planning

Susanny J. Beltran, PhD, MSW, and colleagues noticed that older Latinos consistently completed advance care planning documentation less frequently compared to the general population. They evaluated an educational intervention to see if it would improve advance care planning readiness and knowledge of older Latino adults.

Advance Care Planning Billing Codes Are Rarely Used in Neurology

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services took an important step in 2016 by introducing billing codes for advance care planning. Researchers wanted to assess how often these codes are used in neurology.

Effective Approaches to Close Gaps in Advance Care Planning

Advance care planning (ACP) has shown promise for helping people with the experience of living with serious illness. To address implementation and access gaps, researchers have tried a multitude of different interventions to improve ACP.

Ethical Research Encompasses Feedback from Community

Study investigators increasingly feel an obligation to obtain input from community members to ensure ethical research. Failing to engage respectfully and proactively with communities runs the risk of alienating people, or worse, exploiting them.

Moral Distress Consults Are Valued, but More Outreach Is Needed

As a critical care nurse, Vanessa Amos, PhD, RN, CNL, has participated in many moral distress consultations, and has seen the benefits firsthand. Amos wanted to know more about how others were affected by the consults and how healthcare leaders viewed the service.

Pediatric Residents Benefit from Case-Based Ethics Discussions

Pediatric residents face many unique ethical issues, but often have no outlet to discuss these concerns.

Patients’ Socioeconomic Status Affects Decisions on Treatment Withdrawal

When ethicists consult on a case involving end-of-life decision-making, discussions center around the patient’s goals and values, prognosis, and preferences. Yet, income and insurance status are two other factors that affect the likelihood of patients withdrawing life-sustaining treatments, a recent study suggests.

Ethics Consult Requestors Will Expect Quick Response

When someone reaches the point where they are contacting an ethicist, it is safe to assume that person has, at least in their minds, a very pressing concern. But what response time is quick enough for ethics consult requests? There is no clear consensus.

Medical Mistrust Can Hinder End-of-Life Decision-Making

During medical training and early clinical practice, Scott Vasher, MD, observed that some patients, or their surrogate decision-makers, had an intrinsic trust in the healthcare team. Others seemed mistrustful. Vasher and colleagues conducted a study to measure surrogate decision-maker medical mistrust and identify risk factors for higher medical mistrust.

Surrogates’ Long-Term Distress Is Ethical Concern

Communication breakdowns between clinicians and surrogates in intensive care units may contribute to surrogates’ long-term psychological distress. However, there is no consensus on how to address this concern.

Precision Medicine Raises Unique Ethics Concerns in Emergency Department

Precision medicine technologies are rapidly advancing in healthcare, but this approach also presents some ethical challenges.