Medical Ethics Advisor 2003-02-01

Smallpox plan puts hospitals between tough choices for its staff and public

At the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, infectious diseases physician John D. Shanley, MD, faced a difficult decision last month. Would he be one of his hospitals smallpox response team volunteers and receive the vaccine?

List: These personnel shouldn’t get vaccine

Some people are at greater risk for serious side effects from the smallpox vaccine. Individuals who have any of the following conditions, or live with someone who does, should NOT get the smallpox vaccine unless they have been exposed to the smallpox virus.

Here are estimates for hospital care teams

For management of a single presumptive smallpox patient, assume the following.

Bioterrorism brings wave of dilemmas for hospitals

The recent massive preparations for a potential bioterrorist smallpox attack may radically change the way the nations health system is expected to respond to public health threats, at the same time ushering in a new wave of dilemmas for hospital ethics committees and administrators, say some policy experts.

Experts say Clonaid isn’t likely to have cloned baby

Scientists knowledgeable about the process of cloning animals say they doubt the Canadian-based group Clonaid actually has produced a cloned human baby, as the sect announced Dec. 27. But, some experts say, the publicity generated by the claim may push lawmakers to restrict scientific research into both reproductive and therapeutic cloning

Duke: Industry-sponsored studies may be trouble

Academic medical centers frequently engage in industry-sponsored research that does not adhere to basic standards needed to protect the independence and objectivity of the investigators and the interests of patients who consent to be subjects, a study by researchers at Duke University in Durham, NC, has found.

Medical Ethics Advisor – February 1, 2003

February 1, 2003