Medical Ethics Advisor – May 1, 2025

Emotional Effect of Clinical Ethics Work Often Goes Unrecognized

There is a great deal of focus on the emotional well-being of nurses and physicians, but the effects of clinical ethics work on ethicists are largely undiscussed. Anna Goff, PhD, HEC-C, colleagues interviewed 34 clinical ethicists in 2023 to learn the effect of their professional responsibilities and how coping mechanisms and organizational structures can help.

Ethical Approaches for End-of-Life Communication with Non-English-Speaking ICU Patients

When caring for non-English-language-speaking intensive care unit patients, clinicians face all the same ethical issues as they do with any other patient, and some additional ones when cases involve patients who speak rarer languages.

Privacy Is Ethical Concern with Suicide Research Recruitment in ED Setting

Clinical research is necessary to improve the management of potentially suicidal individuals. However, there are multiple ethical concerns about how to protect the rights and well-being of study participants.

Incarcerated Patients Pose Unique Ethical Concerns

Clinicians encounter incarcerated patients in both inpatient and ambulatory settings. Multiple ethical complexities come up with patient care in this population.

Surrogate Decision-Makers Are Most Common Issue in Ethics Consults for Patients with Liver Disease

Surrogate decision-making was the primary ethical issue for clinical ethics consults involving patients with liver disease, according to a recent study.

Ethics Training Is More Effective In-Person than Online

Graduate students at Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX, have received Responsible Conduct of Research/Professional Ethics Training since 2008 with very good results. Cheryl Stenmark, PhD, and colleagues wanted to know if the program would be equally successful if presented as a real-time, video-streamed, remote training.

Researchers Are Including People with Developmental Disabilities as Participants and Partners

If clinical trials do not include people with developmental disabilities, this poses multiple ethical concerns. People with developmental disabilities may have specific unmet health needs that can be addressed by studies that focus on them. Researchers will need to make an additional effort, and make reasonable accommodations in their study designs, to facilitate participation of those with disabilities.

Ethical Approaches if Researchers Use Telehealth to Obtain Informed Consent

When someone is considering whether to participate in a clinical trial, anything researchers can do to streamline the process can boost recruitment and retention. Using telehealth as part of the informed consent process could streamline the procedure, but it also presents some ethical concerns