Medical Ethics

How Close Is Too Close?

Alexandra Pisano | Posted 05.10.2012

Read More: Medical Ethics, Professional Ethics, Nursing Ethics, Patient Doctor Relationship, Nurse/Patient Relationship, Doctor Patient Relationship, Doctors Patients, Doctor/Patient Relationship, Doctors Ethics, Chicago News

The surgeon saved your life. Do you hug him to say thank you? Do you let the nurse who delivered your healthy baby hug you?

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Sharing Office Cubicles... and Diagnoses

Robert Klitzman, M.D. | Posted 05.08.2012

Read More: Stigma, Medical Ethics, Psychiatry, Confidentiality, Mental Health, Psychology, Mental Illness Stigma, Privacy, Politics, Health, Ethics, Genetics, Healthcare Reform, Bioethics, Anxiety, Medicine, Healthcare, Wellness, Healthy Living News

Coworkers occupy peculiar in-between roles in our lives. Most days, we spend at least half of our waking hours with them. Disclosing our personal problems to them can offer advantages, generating social support, or can prompt stigma and discrimination.

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Why Do Some See My Daughter's Life As 'Wrongful'?

Amy Julia Becker | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Medical Ethics, Kids With Disabilities, Down Syndrome, Genetic Testing, Prenatal Testing, Discrimination Against Disabled, Wrongful Life, Disability, Parents News, Parents News

We live in a culture where disability is celebrated as a mark of human diversity (think of Becky on Glee) and even, in some cases, genius (think of Stephen Hawking). We also live in a culture where disability is viewed as an obstacle to be overcome through prenatal testing.

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Every Sperm Is Sacred? Jewish Perspectives On Contraception

Rabbi Daniel Brenner | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Medical Ethics, Abortion, Religious Ethics, Contraception, Catholic Hospitals, Judaism, Religion and Politics, Rick Santorum, Planned Parenthood, Judaism on Contraception, Religion News

The questions that exist around reproductive health care and religious ethics are profound and challenging. Yet, some of the loudest voices in the media are labeling contraception coverage an attack on religious liberty.

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What's The Difference Between A Doctor And G-d?

Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Medical Ethics, Ethics, Euthanasia, Medicine, Judaism, Jewish Medical Ethics, Religion News

A little while back my father was diagnosed with glioblastoma grade IV. In a word, it is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The doctors gave him a year. They also gave him options.

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A Little Girl's Kidney, A Nation's Heart

Susan Senator | Posted 03.17.2012

Read More: Medical Ethics, Kidney Transplant, Denied Transplant, Amelia Rivera, Parents News

Why do doctors get to decide whether a child's cognitive abilities make her a candidate for an organ transplant? That is what has me so upset over Amelia's doctors: the implication that some humans are better than others.

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The Psychiatric Drugging of America's Foster Children

Dr. Peter Breggin | Posted 12.22.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Psychiatry, Pharmaceutical Companies, Pharmaceutical Industry, Mental Health, Antipsychotic Drugs, Drug Companies, Psychiatric Drugs, Foster Children, Antipsychotics, Healthy Living News

There were approximately 662,000 children in foster care in the U.S. in 2010. Now, there is a Government Accounting Office report confirming that foster children in five states are receiving shocking amounts of psychiatric drugs.

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The Fine Line Between Shared and Manipulated Medical Decisions

Michael L. Millenson | Posted 01.11.2012

Read More: Prescription Drugs, Medical Ethics, Shared-Decision-Making, Nudge, Diet, Behavioral Economics, Health and Fitness, Business News

Are hard-edged smoking cessation or weight loss programs justified because they help keep down everyone's insurance costs? What is the balance between personal freedom and societal obligations?

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Castration Ethics

Priya Malhotra | Posted 10.30.2011

Read More: Informed Consent, Medical Ethics, Philip Seaton, Circumcision, Penis, Penile Cancer, Chicago News

Stealing a patient's penis without his permission -- regardless of the vegetable it resembles -- seems pretty harmful to me.

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When Compassion Becomes the Unifying Language: A Story of Language Barriers in Medicine

Tomekia Lynn Strickland, M.D. | Posted 10.05.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Er Stories, Medical Doctor, Compassion, Emergency Room Stories, Self Compassion, Compassion Language, Hair Beauty, Bv-Life, BV Life, Black Voices News

In the role of physician, it didn't matter that we were new acquaintances, born of different races and who spoke different languages. I spoke with my heart and I spoke with my hands a message of hope, trust and recovery.

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Should Meat Be Sold With Warning Labels?

Nil Zacharias | Posted 09.10.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Meat Consumption, Meat Dangers, Meatless Mondays, Meat, Meatless Monday, Healthcare, Vegan, Food News

In spite of ample evidence highlighting the problems with excessive meat consumption, physicians are not provided any specific guidance about counseling their patients on reducing meat consumption.

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Busted: A Fugitive Fraudster Husband

Abigail Pesta | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Fraud, Medical Ethics, Mark-Weinberger-Arrest, Surgery, Indiana, Chicago, Mark Weinberger, Italy, Medical Errors, Michelle Kramer, Health Care, Health Care Fraud, Merillville, Malpractice, Psychology, Tony Robbins Breakthrough, Marie Claire, Narcissism, Healthy Living News

What do you do when your husband disappears from your bed one night, leaves you with $6 million in debt, and turns out to be a total fraud? If you're Michelle Kramer, you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get a Ph.D. in psychology.

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Planned Parenthood Slammed for Telling the Truth

Leah Anthony Libresco | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Abortion, Women's Rights, Women's Health, Live Action, Emtala, Pro-Life, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice, Lila Rose, Patients' Rights, Politics News

Lila Rose's pro-choice group, Live Action, continues to release videos from their 'sting operations against Planned Parenthood. They're trying to pos...

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Women Are Casualties in High Profile Abortion Fight

Leah Anthony Libresco | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Abortion, Rape, John Boehner, Pro-Life, Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice, Kermit Gosnell, Politics News

Activists with no background in medicine may not understand the consequences of their critiques or challenges.

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Reasons For the Anti-Vaccine Movement's Appeal

Dr. Elaine Schattner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Health, Anti-Vaccine Movement, Education, Andrew Wakefield, Health Care, Vaccines, Medical Ethics, Medical Communication, Home News

There are a few lessons that can be learned about communication in medicine and news from the recently retracted vaccine and autism paper.

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San Francisco May Vote On Circumcision Ban

Posted 06.15.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Lloyd Shofield, Penis, Ballot Initiative, Men's Health, Hiv, Male Circumcision, Bris, San Francisco Around Town, Parenting, Circumcision Ban, Video, Glans, Circumcision, Foreskin, Proposition, San Francisco, Los Angeles News

San Francisco residents may vote on a ballot measure next year that would outlaw circumcision. The initiative, which requires 7,000 signatures befo...

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Study Calls For Sensitivity In Muslims' Medical Care

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Islam and Doctors, Medical Ethics, Religious Values and Medicine, Islam and Healthcare, Islam Health Care, Muslim Bioethics, Islamic Bioethics, Muslim Healthcare, Religion and Medicine, Muslim Medial Patients, Muslim Medical Practice, Muslim Medical Care, Religion News

Whitney Jones Religion News Service (RNS) U.S. doctors need to take religious values into account while providing health care, especially when the...

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The Nazi Virus

Robert Koehler | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: RADIATION EXPOSURE, Medical Ethics, Tuskegee-Experiment, Nuremberg Trials, Ethics, Nazism, Science, Nuclear Testing, United-States-Guatemala-Research, World News

Even as we were prosecuting Nazis at Nuremberg for their barbaric behavior, including their notorious medical experiments on death camp inmates, we were, it turns out, conducting our own medical experiments on a vulnerable and unsuspecting population.

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On The Bridge: A Conversaton Between A Pro-Lifer And An Embryonic Stem Cell Researcher

Christine A. Scheller | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Abortion, Medical Ethics, Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Bioethics, Jeanne Loring, Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Religion News

I was a pro-lifer whose child had an incurable disease. What I wanted to know was: what would I do if hESCs could cure my child'sNeurofibromatosis?

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The Professionalization of Torture

Human Rights First | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Human Rights, Cia, National Security, Human Rights First, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, Waterboarding, Gitmo, Torture, Politics News

By Melina Milazzo Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security Program This week, the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) published a commentary enti...

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Lies, Damn Lies and Medical Research

Dana Ullman | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Medical Research, Scientific Method, Health, Dana Ullman, Homeopathy, Alternative Medicine, Healthy Living News

Just because a drug treatment seems to eliminate a specific symptom does not necessarily mean that it is "effective." In fact, getting rid of a specific symptom can be the bad news.

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Dr. Jack Cassell Should Find Another Job

Scott Mendelson, M.D. | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Dr. Jack Cassell, Politics, Medical Care, Docotors, Health Care Reform, Health Care, Healthy Living News

This morning I read that Dr. Jack Cassell, a urologist practicing in Florida, placed a sign in his office window telling people who had voted for Obama to seek care "elsewhere".

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Reproductive Fraud? Sham Pregnancy Centers Face Pushback

Jacob M. Appel | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Medical Ethics, Women's Rights, Law, First Amendment, Catholicism, Austin, Free Speech, Pregnancy, U.S. Constitution, Federal Trade Commission, Robert Menendez, Catholic Church, Politics, Constitutional Law, First Amendment Rights, Deceptive Marketing, Constitution, Health Care, Bioethics, Childbirth, Maryland, Abortion, Women, Baltimore, Litigation, Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act, Anti-Abortion, Carolyn Maloney, Texas, Fraud, Religion, Birth Control, Contraceptives, Human Rights, Advertising, Women's Health, Sex, Anti-Abortion Activists, Anti-Abortion Protesters, Pro-Choice, Politics News

It's increasingly difficult to figure out which of the numerous organizations claiming to offer "reproductive health services" actually provide termination referrals and which are merely sham clinics established by right-wing religious activists.

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The Ethical Imperative to Invest in Medical Technology

Helene Pavlov, M.D. | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Dr Helene Pavlov, Medical Ethics, Health Care Technology, Medical Research, Medical Costs, Health, Medical Economics, Medical Technology, Healthy Living News

Technology is fascinating, and can be quite addictive, e.g. bigger, faster, more Apps, more color, more depth and, of course, more cost. How does this idea relate to medicine?

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We Are All Fat and Have Cancer

Dr. Elaine Schattner | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Health Insurance, Women's Health, Medical Ethics, Health Care Reform, Whole Foods, Cancer, Health, Empathy, Chronic Illness, Healthy Living News

A subtle, insidious, shifting attitude toward people who are sick - a loss of empathy - arises in the context of a popular notion that we can control our health. Maybe even fend off cancer.

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