Medical Ethics Advisor – April 1, 2008
April 1, 2008
View Issues
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Who can be a 'medical ethicist'? Absent formal definition, anybody
If you serve on your hospital's ethics committee, does that make you a medical ethicist? -
Genetic testing: Should children be tested?
It's the ethical spectre that emerges with every advance in genetic testing. Should children be tested for gene mutations that predispose them to developing serious illnesses later in life? -
ACOG conscience position outrages 'pro-life' MDs
A paper reporting the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) association's position on how far doctors can go in conscientious refusal to perform abortions and prescribe emergency contraception is an attack on "pro-life" physicians, according to two medical associations. -
Handling incidental findings in age of genetic research
Clinical research teams and investigators may find that their traditional strategies for handling incidental findings during a trial are inadequate in this age of genetic research. -
ACP: Research, legalize medical-use marijuana
Calls to legalize marijuana for medical use have come from an assortment of groups, but none with the status and influence of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country's second-largest medical association, until now. -
Faulty reporting systems deter error reporting
Lots has been written about physicians' unwillingness to report medical errors, but findings from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) suggest it's not a lack of honesty and ethics at work it's a lack of confidence in current reporting systems. -
News Briefs
Placebos have been a part of medicine since ancient times, and remain both clinically relevant and philosophically interesting, according to a University of Chicago medical student whose research has shown that 45% of Chicago-area internists use placebos in their practice.