Journal of medical ethics
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Journal of medical ethics · Aug 2009
Multicenter StudyThe principle of justice in patient priorities in the intensive care unit: the role of significant others.
Theoretically, the principle of justice is strong in healthcare priorities both nationally and internationally. Research, however, has indicated that questions can be raised as to how this principle is dealt with in clinical intensive care. ⋯ The principle of justice was violated when qualified attention was given to significant others, and through this also to patients. Attention given to significant others was influenced by the healthcare workers' professional and personal values, attitudes and interests.
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Journal of medical ethics · Apr 2009
Multicenter StudyFrench hospital nurses' opinion about euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide: a national phone survey.
Hospital nurses are frequently the first care givers to receive a patient's request for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (PAS). In France, there is no consensus over which medical practices should be considered euthanasia, and this lack of consensus blurred the debate about euthanasia and PAS legalisation. This study aimed to investigate French hospital nurses' opinions towards both legalisations, including personal conceptions of euthanasia and working conditions and organisation. ⋯ Many French hospital nurses uphold the legalisation of euthanasia and PAS, but these nurses may be the least likely to perform what proponents of legalisation call "good" euthanasia. Improving professional knowledge of palliative care could improve the management of end-of-life situations and help to clarify the debate over euthanasia.
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Journal of medical ethics · Aug 2007
Multicenter StudyThe ethics of poverty and the poverty of ethics: the case of Palestinian prisoners in Israel seeking to sell their kidneys in order to feed their children.
Bioethical arguments conceal the coercion underlying the choice between poverty and selling ones organs.