Journal of medical ethics
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Journal of medical ethics · Apr 2008
Ethical issues arising from the requirement to sign a consent form in palliative care.
French healthcare networks aim to help healthcare workers to take care of patients by improving cooperation, coordination and the continuity of care. When applied to palliative care in the home, they facilitate overall care including medical, social and psychological aspects. ⋯ Ethical issues arise from this legislation with regard to the validity of the signature of dying patients. Signature of the consent form by a guardian or trustee, a designated person--the Person of Trust--transforms the doctor-patient relationship into a triangular doctor-patient-third-party relationship.
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Journal of medical ethics · Apr 2008
Ethically problematic treatment decisions in different medical specialties.
Ethical dilemmas are an integral part of medicine. Whether physicians actually feel that they have made ethically problematic treatment decisions or choices in their work is largely unknown. Identifying physicians with ethical problems, and the types of problems and underlying factors, might benefit organisational and educational efforts to help physicians solve ethical dilemmas in a constructive way. We investigated how the frequency and types of ethically difficult treatment decisions vary by specialty. ⋯ Physicians of different specialties differ significantly regarding frequency and types of ethically problematic treatment decisions they have made. Psychiatrists differ from all other specialists in reporting more undertreatment and patient rights issues. Experiencing ethically problematic decisions might affect the quality of care and physician well-being in many ways. The findings could be useful for both under- and postgraduate ethics education.
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Journal of medical ethics · Apr 2008
Teaching medical ethics: what is the impact of role models? Some experiences from Swedish medical schools.
The goal of the present study was to elucidate what influences medical students' attitudes and interests in medical ethics. At the end of their first, fifth and last terms, 409 medical students from all six medical schools in Sweden participated in an attitude survey. ⋯ Physicians involved in the education of medical students seem to teach medical ethics as role models even when ethics is not on the schedule. The low response rate prevents us from drawing definite conclusions, but the results could be used as hypotheses to be further scrutinised.