Medical Ethics Advisor – February 1, 2022
February 1, 2022
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Incentives for Online Surveys Boost Research Participation, But Fraud Remains a Concern
All researchers should consider fraud detection safeguards early in the study planning and design process. Allot the necessary time and resources to ongoing, rigorous data quality checks, and invest in fraud detection technology.
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Industry Payments to Surgeons Increased Despite Transparency Requirements
Despite the fact data on industry payments are publicly available, it does not appear to be causing patients to be suspicious of doctors’ integrity. To many patients, the transparency over financial ties suggests the physician is straightforward and can be trusted. Patients generally do not focus on the potentially problematic implications of clinicians accepting payments from industry.
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Expedited Approval of Medications Calls Evidence Standards into Question
Patients want quick access to medications that are proven safe and effective. But how fast is too fast?
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Clinicians’ Confusion over Brain Death Criteria Persists
There are inconsistencies between standards and institutional protocols and clinical practice. Inconsistencies can erode clinician and public trust in the determination of death by neurologic criteria. Inconsistencies also can cause false-positive determinations in which a patient is incorrectly determined to be dead. Ethicists should advocate for ensuring clinicians involved in the determination of death by neurologic criteria are equipped with appropriate expertise.
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IRBs Are Reviewing Artificial Intelligence Research, Outside Expertise Needed
How might IRBs be adapted to address ethics oversight of health-related artificial intelligence research?
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Access Problems with Pediatric Mental Healthcare Raise Ethical Worries
Mental health insurance claims roughly doubled for teens in March and April 2020 compared to those same months in 2019. However, only half of parents who tried to obtain mental healthcare for their children succeeded in doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Hospitals Disproportionately Sue Low-Income, Rural, and Black Patients
One expert believes ethicists should serve as a "moral compass for hospitals," pushing facility leaders to consider whether engaging in litigation like this is the best course of action.
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Rural Patients Still Lack Palliative Care Access
Funding and resources are needed to improve palliative care access and delivery and prevent health disparities within rural communities.
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IRBs Are Scrutinizing Digital Tools for Informed Consent
Compared to paper-based informed consent, a multimedia digital tool resulted in higher satisfaction, was perceived as easier to use, gave more people the ability to complete the consent independently, and was perceived as taking less time to complete the consent process, according to the results of a recent study.
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Gene Editing Is Popular, But Controversial, Research Area
Gene drive researchers aim to broadcast a consistent message, tell the truth from the beginning, and be transparent.
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Orthopedic Surgeons Say ‘Open-Label’ Placebos Are Ethical, Yet Few Use Them
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Study Shows Ethics Complaints in Psychiatry Could Be Declining
One reason could be the emphasis on ethics education in psychiatry.
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Physician Assistants in OB/GYN Field Want More Ethics Expertise
Survey respondents named many ethical challenges they faced: end-of-life care, complex pregnancies, risk and benefits to mother and fetus, and counseling adolescents.