• Can J Emerg Med · Jan 2002

    Ethics in the trenches: preparing for ethical challenges in the emergency department.

    • Merril Pauls.
    • Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
    • Can J Emerg Med. 2002 Jan 1;4(1):45-8.

    AbstractEthical issues can be more difficult to address in the emergency department than in other settings. We present two cases, with the goal of stimulating moral reflection and encouraging emergency physicians to gain a better understanding of two important ethical issues: advance directives and resource allocation decisions. Understanding the legal and ethical basis for advance directives allows emergency physicians to determine when the directives should be followed and when they should be questioned. Resource allocation decisions are among the toughest decisions emergency physicians make. Although patients or substitute decision-makers define the value of a treatment goal, emergency physicians must ensure that this goal does indeed represent the patient's wishes, that it is achievable, and that competing claims for the same resource are considered. Learning from others' experiences and preparing for ethical problems in advance will help physicians feel more comfortable in dealing with ethical issues.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…