Browse Medical Ethics Articles by Topic

Central and Local IRBs: Can This Marriage Be Saved?

As the new normal becomes single IRB review for multisite studies, some researchers are wary that this system may undermine the vital role of local IRBs to protect research subjects in their community.

Gene Therapy Studies on the Rise Due to Market Demands

The market’s growth raises the prospect of IRBs overseeing gene therapy clinical trials. It also means that research organizations, both large and small, should be prepared for such trials and develop or have access to an institutional biosafety committee.

HEAL: An NIH Moonshot Against Addiction and Pain

The National Institutes of Health is taking up this formidable research challenge with $850 million in federal funding, leveraging expertise from a wide variety of centers and institutes for the HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) initiative.

Mindfulness Intervention Well-Received by Palliative Care Providers

The intervention stemmed from strong interest in addressing providers’ well-being.

Spiritual Care in ICU: Persistent Unmet Needs

The authors of a recent literature review looked at the current state of spiritual care in the ICU setting. The findings reveal both the benefits of spiritual care services and the persistent unmet needs.

Study: Advance Care Plans Lacking When Serious Complications Occur

When patients with significant underlying comorbidities suffer life-threatening or serious complications at Indiana University Health, the palliative team is consulted. All too often, they find there is no advance directive in place.

Call for Uniform Brain Death Standard: Opponents ‘Increasingly Vocal and Influential’

There are growing calls for a uniform brain death standard, but court cases and in-hospital conflicts continue to increase.

Study Sheds Light on How Clinical Ethics Consults Are Categorized

Ethics consultations are categorized in a surprisingly heterogeneous way, found a recent analysis of 30 articles. The most common categories were do not resuscitate orders, capacity, withholding, withdrawing, and surrogate or proxy. Only 26% of the typologies (seven of 27 unique typologies) contained the five most common categories.

New Guidance on Ethics of Providers’ Internet Searches on Patients

Despite multiple ethical concerns raised regarding providers searching for online information about their patients, specific recommendations have been lacking.

Ethics of Virtual Visits: In-Person Visits Declined 33% in First Year

Some accountable care organizations are replacing in-person visits with lower-cost virtual visits. Using data from more than 35,000 patients from 2014 to 2017 within a Massachusetts-based ACO, researchers found that the use of virtual visits reduced in-person visits by 33%.