Medical Ethics Advisor – November 1, 2025

Surge in Patients Leaving Against Medical Advice: Ethicist Involvement Needed

Hospitals are seeing a rise in patients leaving against medical advice (AMA), creating ethical challenges around autonomy, beneficence, and stigma. Ethicists can guide clinicians in assessing decision-making capacity, reducing bias, supporting continuity of care, and addressing systemic causes behind AMA discharges.

Evolving Ethical Views on Shared Decision-Making

Clinicians face challenges balancing persuasion, nudging, and autonomy in shared decision-making. Research explores how ethical persuasion can support patient well-being while avoiding manipulation. Ethicists can help establish guidelines that ensure transparency, respect, and patient-centered communication across medical contexts.

Public Health Policymakers Want Input from Bioethicists

Bioethicists can play key roles in shaping ethical public health policy by addressing value conflicts, stakeholder input, and issues, such as artificial intelligence in policy. Experts advocate greater collaboration between ethicists and policymakers to ensure fairness, trust, and community engagement.

Ethical Controversy Over Researchers — and Soon, IRBs — Using AI Tools

As researchers and institutional review boards increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) to draft protocols and analyze data, concerns arise over accountability, bias, and research integrity. Ethicists emphasize transparency, disclosure, and human oversight to ensure AI supports, rather than replaces, ethical judgment in research oversight.

Informed Consent Practices in Anesthesia Field Raise Ethical Concerns

Rushed or inconsistent anesthesia consent practices threaten patient autonomy and trust. Studies reveal inadequate risk disclosure and variable standards. Ethicists urge earlier, more transparent consent processes and education to align anesthesia practices with ethical principles of autonomy and informed choice.

Ethics Consult Trends Reveal the Best Targets for Education

Hospitals are using ethics consult data to identify recurring ethical challenges and tailor educational efforts. Although consult tracking helps target training needs, experts caution against overreliance on frequency data, stressing interactive education and case-based discussions for meaningful ethics learning.