Browse Medical Ethics Advisor Articles by Topic

Seriously Ill Patients Have Unmet Needs at Discharge

Aaron A. Kuntz, MD, a palliative care physician in the Division of General Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, wanted to better understand patient and caregiver experiences with the hospital discharge process. The researchers interviewed 11 patients and four caregivers who received palliative care during a hospitalization. The patients and caregivers described lack of clarity on the next steps and needing more education on post-discharge services.

Training Is Needed as Palliative Care Moves to Home Health Setting

There is growing awareness of the need to integrate palliative care in the home health setting. However, two important ethical questions remain unanswered. Is the home health care workforce ready to deliver palliative care? And are home health patients ready to accept palliative care?

Stakeholder Engagement Is Important in Palliative Care Research

Involving stakeholders in palliative care research promotes successful recruitment, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of study findings. However, researchers face many challenges in doing this effectively.

Religion and Spirituality Course Content Varies in Graduate Bioethics Programs

Almost a decade ago, Cynthia Geppert, MD, PhD, DPS, adjunct professor of bioethics at the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College, noticed that few graduate bioethics programs included a course addressing religion and spirituality. This realization led to Geppert co-developing a religion and bioethics course in 2018.

Pediatric Ethics Consults Adhere to Some — But Not All — National Standards

Core competencies for ethics consultation were established in 2011 by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. However, it is unclear if ethics consultants are consistently meeting these standards.

Updated ANA Code of Ethics Reflects Today’s Realities; for Ethicists, it Is Another Tool

Every 10 years, the American Nurses Association updates its Code of Ethics for Nurses. The much-anticipated 2025 changes have important implications for nurses, ethicists, and other healthcare providers.

Missed Opportunities for Goals of Care Discussion

Ethics consults often involve conflicts at the end of life. Some of those conflicts could have been avoided with earlier goals of care discussions.

Ethicists Can Address Low Advance Care Billing Rates

Rates of advance care planning billing remain low, despite billing codes having been introduced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services nearly a decade ago.

Mindfulness Improves Advance Care Planning Outcomes

Shelley Johns, PsyD, of the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues conducted a study to see if mindfulness was a possible alternative to avoidant coping for people with cancer and their family caregivers.

Residents’ Moral Distress Is Ethical Concern

Residents experience moral distress just as other clinicians do, raising some unique ethical concerns.