Medical Ethics Advisor – August 1, 2024

References Used to Support Ethics Recommendations Depend on the Ethicist

What references are ethics consultants actually using to support their recommendations? And are ethics consultants using the same references?

Bioethics Field Is Less Diverse, with Different Views, than the General Public

Bioethics is a growing and influential field, yet little is known about bioethicists themselves. “It is important to understand bioethicists’ backgrounds and views because these may shape policies and practices,” says Leah Pierson, PhD, an MD-PhD student at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Was the Consult Effective? Ethicists Survey Requestors

If ethics programs really want to know how well they are doing, individuals who participated in consults are ideal sources of information. To obtain this valuable feedback, some ethics programs are using surveys.

Ethical Decision-Making for High-Risk Surgical Patients

High-risk patients present some unique ethical considerations for surgeons. One issue is that surgeons are under increasing pressure to meet quality metrics, but high-risk patients are more likely to have adverse outcomes. That can result in lower metrics — and, possibly, less reimbursement.

Ethicists Are Facing Complex Medical-Aid-in-Dying Cases

Clinicians face unique ethical questions with medical-aid-in-dying (MAID) cases, and ethicists soon may be seeing more consults involving this issue.

Infrequent Billing for Advance Care Planning Is Ethical Concern

A recent study’s findings show that patients with billed advance care planning encounters had decreased expenditures at the end of life.

New Data on Strategies to Increase Advance Care Planning

Despite ample evidence that advance care planning can benefit patients, families, and healthcare systems, most older adults have not completed it. Many clinicians and researchers are trying to find effective strategies to increase advance planning rates.

Oncologists’ Ethical Concerns on Use of AI in Cancer Care

Most oncologists feel responsible for protecting patients from biased artificial intelligence tools, but few were confident in their ability to do so, a recent study found.

Stigmatizing Language in Patient Charts Linked to Diagnostic Errors

You have probably seen — and possibly even used — terms such as “difficult patient” or “drug-seeking” in medical charts. But did you ever wonder if stigmatizing language puts patients at risk for diagnostic error?

Diversity of Clinical Trial Participants Is Ethical Concern

Researchers soon will have additional guidance for increasing enrollment of participants from historically underrepresented populations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a draft guidance, Diversity Action Plans to Improve Enrollment of Participants from Underrepresented Populations in Clinical Studies.

New Data Show Trends in Pediatric Ethics Consults

Pediatric ethics consultations are very infrequent and involve more diverse issues than ethics consults for adult patients. This makes it difficult to identify trends and changes.

Medical Students Feel Unprepared to Manage Financial Conflicts

Many medical students feel inadequately prepared to avoid negative influence from industry and feel inadequately educated on conflicts of interest, a recent study found.