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Women increasingly are electing to give birth by cesarean when there is no medical necessity to do so; meanwhile, the debate about the safety to the mother continues.
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In a new report, the Institute of Medicine calls for conventional medical treatments and complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments to be held to the same standards for demonstrating clinical effectiveness to make it easier for health care providers and the public to make evidence-based decisions about CAM use.
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Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are lifesaving devices, as demonstrated by a 2004 study that showed ICDs reduced death by 23% in people with moderate heart failure and poor pumping function, compared to patients who did not receive ICDs. But what if that lifesaving device outstays its welcome and prolongs death because its users havent discussed when their ICDs should be deactivated?
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Its illegal, it may undermine international treaties, and there are warnings that patient safety is at risk but for many, the cost savings of buying re-imported drugs outweighs all the arguments against it.
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The president of the American Medical Association (AMA), who became the target of criticism from gay and lesbian groups after comments defending a medical schools decision to ban a gay student group were attributed to him in a newspaper article, asserts that his views were misrepresented.
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Last year, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the plaintiff in the ongoing case against the law, cannot sanction or hold doctors criminally liable for prescribing overdoses under Oregon law. The Bush administration has appealed, and the Supreme Court has agreed to review Oregons law.
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How and when, during the course of a medical students education, should the subject of ethics be taught is a matter of much discussion. One program at the University of Iowas (UI) Carver College of Medicine adds an additional basic element teaching med students how to tell if an ethical problem is really an ethical problem.
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Ensuring age- and condition-appropriate medical care for young patients with special health care needs is challenging enough, but one aspect of their care that may not receive the attention it merits is the effect on a child when he or she is forced to transition from pediatric to adult care.
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There are some ethical issues that are universal end of life decisions, competency, and refusal of treatment, to name a few. But the questions involved and their answers seem to carry added weight when the patients are children.
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Recent challenges to the medical licenses of physicians who participate in state-ordered executions have been dismissed, but the physicians and ethicists who claim that participation violates the American Medical Association (AMA) code of ethics vow to keep up the complaints.
