Emergency contraception (EC) has been available in the United States for almost a decade. It is a safe and effective contraceptive choice when other methods have failed or have not been used and a pregnancy is not desired. Still, many barriers exist to the prompt and reliable provision of EC to appropriate patients. While the ethical battle concerning EC will likely never cease, these concerns do not represent the greatest barriers to appropriate EC access. Read more →

The time was June 2000. Scientists with the Celera Genomics Corporation, in conjunction with the international Human Genome Project, announced that they had successfully derived the entire sequence of the human genome. Furthermore, they noted that humans share 99.9% of their genetic code with one another. This discovery served as the platform for the medical community to declare that there was no genetic foundation for the notion of race, and we were all just human beings. Read more →

A recent New England Journal of Medicine article questions the ethics of psychiatrists being involved in interrogations. In 2006 the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the American Psychological Association (APA) issued statements that it is unethical for doctors and psychologists to be directly involved in the interrogation process. Directly involved also includes viewing the interrogation with the “intention of intervening.” Physicians are allowed to train interrogation personnel but are not supposed to tailor interrogation protocols to specific prisoners or detainees. Read more →

In medicine a lot of physicians categorize their patients as “good” patients or “bad” patients. Good patients are patients whose care is relatively easy for the physician to handle. The patient is compliant with recommendations, is motivated to get better, and is thankful for the doctor’s care. Bad patients are generally those patients who do not follow physician recommendations, who behave in a way detrimental to their own health, who are extremely high demand, and who threaten litigation. Good patients are more likely to do better with treatment. Bad patients are very likely to have a complication. Read more →

The article I posted a few weeks ago in regards to the H5N1 vaccine caused me to consider a potential pandemic and the health care workers’ obligation to work should the event come to pass.

The World Health Organization estimates that

today a pandemic is likely to result in 2 to 7.4 million deaths globally. In high income countries alone, accounting for 15% of the world’s population, models project a demand for 134-233 million outpatient visits and 1.5-5.2 million hospital admissions.

Read more →

In this series of posts we are examining the ethics behind medicine. This includes the entire ethical spectrum of behavior by doctors, patients, nurses, and the entire medical system. Here we present another case scenario about a patient.

A 36 year old man presents to his plastic surgeon for cosmetic deformity. He would like a rhinoplasty for his nose. This is something that he has always wanted done. His plastic surgeon asks him why he wants the surgery as he is a good looking guy who is fit with good self esteem. His surgeon asks him if he has ever had plastic surgery before. The patient says no. Thus the surgery is scheduled and both the doctor and patient agree to proceed. Read more →