Medical Ethics Advisor
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‘Feel-Good Approach’ Is Not Enough: Assess Quality of Ethics Consults
Quality of clinical care routinely is assessed using myriad established approaches, with patient safety issues addressed with such proven methods as root cause analyses. On the other hand, quality of ethics consultations often is not addressed at all.
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Disclosure of Errors Not Documented — Even if Patient Seriously Harmed
Very few disclosures of medical errors or apologies to the patient or relatives were documented in medical records, found a recent analysis of malpractice claims.
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Lawsuits Allege Patients’ End-of-Life Wishes Ignored
Several recent lawsuits alleged that patients were harmed by unwanted care because their end-of-life wishes were disregarded by the clinical team, with one case resulting in a $1 million settlement against the hospital.
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Early Error Disclosure Training Prepares Residents to Provide Ethical Care
Role-modeling, a strong patient safety culture, and simulation training provided to interdisciplinary groups facilitate error disclosure, found several recent studies.
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Radiation Oncologists Want, but Often Lack, Palliative Care Training
Residents, practicing radiation oncologists, and program directors believe palliative care training is important, but education is lacking in some areas, according to multiple recent studies.
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Patients More Likely to Choose Do Not Resuscitate After Educational Video
Hospitalized patients who watched a video about code status choices were less likely to choose full code, and more likely to choose do not resuscitate or do not intubate, found a study of 119 patients hospitalized on the general medicine service at Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Minnesota.
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Study: Surrogates Sometimes Place Own Wishes Over Patient’s
Surrogate decision-makers are valuing what they think is best for the patient more than they value patient preferences in the process of making medical decisions for them, found a recent study.
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Ethical Debate Continues Over Genetically Modified Human Embryos
The first-known experiment creating genetically modified human embryos in the U.S. using a gene-editing tool called CRISPR reignited ethical debate on this type of research.
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Advance Care Planning Often ‘Useless’: Providers Can’t Always Access in EHRs
With electronic health records, patients’ advance care planning should be only a mouse click away. Too often, this isn’t reality.
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‘Ever-Expanding Options’ Prolong Life, but Spark Conflicts
Surrogates may be struggling to let go of a loved one, may not understand clinical realities, or may have religious or cultural beliefs about withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining medical interventions. Regardless of the reason, families sometimes want to “do everything” when the clinical team feels it’s time to stop.