Browse Medical Ethics Articles by Topic

When is the ICU Inappropriate? Clinicians now Have Guidelines

The American Thoracic Society supports the clinical team’s decision to not offer life-sustaining treatments in some circumstances.

Choose your words carefully

Some commonly used medical terms may mislead patients and family members, leading to misunderstandings about prognosis.

Medicare proposes paying for advance care planning

Proposed changes to the 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule includes a provision for two new advance care planning codes. These would be used to pay for a provider’s time discussing patient choices for advance directives and completing necessary forms.

Cystic fibrosis patients face ethical issues with direct-to-consumer genetic testing

Researchers surveyed 47 patients with cystic fibrosis and 65 parents of children with cystic fibrosis to assess their views on direct-to-consumer carrier tests; most indicated they preferred healthcare systems to provide testing, as opposed to commercial companies.

Choose your words carefully - Guarded prognosis

A family member hearing certain words is unlikely to understand the provider’s likely meaning that the patient is in the dying process and that aggressive treatments are likely to do more harm than good.

Patients using social media to lobby for access to investigational drugs

Social media campaigns have successfully pressured drug companies to approve some requests for investigational drugs for terminally ill patients under expanded access programs, but this raises significant ethical concerns.

Study’s findings can improve advance care planning for heart failure patients

Advance care planning for heart failure patients can be improved by basing discussions on four transitions commonly experienced by patients and caregivers, a recent study suggests.

Medicare proposes paying for advance care planning

Proposed changes to the 2016 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule includes a provision for two new advance care planning codes.

Patient records doctor’s insulting comments: Jury awards $500,000

A highly publicized lawsuit involving a sedated patient whose smartphone recorded a doctor’s insulting comments resulted in a recent $500,000 jury verdict.

IC requirements may be met, but do subjects comprehend what they sign?

There is a gap between what is required in the informed consent process for human subjects research, and the reality of how well the information is actually understood by participants. This was the focus of a March 2015 workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy.