Medical Ethics Advisor – November 1, 2006
November 1, 2006
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KY surgeons, surgery center provide free operations for underinsured
Ann Latty was facing a bleak situation. Diagnosed with a cataract that needed immediate surgery, but without money or insurance to cover the operation, she wasn't sure her vision could be preserved. -
New HIV testing guidelines meet with praise, criticism
Major revisions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for HIV screening are either a boon to the task of identifying the 250,000 Americans who carry the virus but don't know it or a blow to patient autonomy and privacy. -
Teen seeking risky cancer treatment compromises
When Virginia teenager Abraham Cherrix decided early in 2006 to take control of his treatment for Hodgkin's disease, his aversion to traditional chemotherapy drove him to seek an alternative, herb-based therapy available in Mexico a decision that put him and his family at odds with his physicians and the Virginia Department of Social Services, which sought to force him into chemotherapy and petitioned for custody. -
Drive for skilled translators in hospitals increases
New York has become the latest state to enact a law requiring hospitals to provide language assistance, or translators, to patients with limited English proficiency specifically, translators who are not family members, friends, or hospital staff unskilled in translating. -
HIV experts say ethics bottlenecking research
Promising new HIV prevention approaches are within reach, but international AIDS experts say the world is not prepared to make those approaches accessible to populations most at risk. -
'Free samples from pharmas may bias others, not me'
Doctors tend to agree that accepting free samples from pharmaceutical companies is acceptable; but, while they suspect such incentives create bias among their peers, they don't think they are susceptible to being biased themselves. -
ANA to study how disasters affect standards of care
The American Nurses Association (ANA) is looking back on the role of nurses during and after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and wants to take what was learned during that time, coupled with the ANA Code of Ethics, and come up with guidelines and policies to assist nurses in making ethical decisions during disasters. -
News Briefs
Supreme Court: Rules on EMRs not too lax; Report: Lax handling of doctors who do crimes?