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Some hospitals are now being required to inform living donors of the risks they face, fully evaluate their medical and psychological suitability, and track their health for years after donation.
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The use of bipolar disorder diagnoses for children whose primary symptoms were manifested by irritability, rather than the traditional cyclical mood symptoms of adult bipolar disorder, has been a major concern in child psychiatry in recent years, says Paul S. Appelbaum, MD, Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine, and Law and director of the Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City.
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If a patient finds out her doctor prescribed a medication manufactured by a drug company he happens to have a lucrative consulting contract with, will she view this as an indication that he's prominent in his field or that he has "sold out" to the industry?
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There is still "a good deal of confusion" about what informed consent and shared decision-making really are, according to Howard Brody, MD, PhD, John P. McGovern Centennial Chair in Family Medicine and director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
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Both autonomy and the law favor allowing patients access to their medical records, and there are clearly associated benefits, says Gregory R. Moore, MD, MPH, senior director at Stamps Health Services at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
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Explantation of battery-operated implants such as pacemakers involves pressing ethical issues but receives little attention, according to Katrina A. Bramstedt, PhD, a clinical ethicist and associate professor at Bond University School of Medicine in Australia, and former faculty in the Department of Bioethics at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH.
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New research suggests that efforts to improve the identification and treatment of pain may have contributed to an over-reliance on prescription opioids.
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The Supreme Courts recent ruling that DNA is a product of nature and not patent-eligible is expected to lower prices and make genetic tests more accessible to larger segments of the population.
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Social media provides significant opportunities in medical practice, but ethical concerns include inappropriate use, which threatens the relationship between physicians and patients.
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Vermont, Oregon, Washington, and Montana now allow physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who meet certain criteria and request lethal prescriptions.
