Forlorn woman
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4 MIN READ

How decision science can help with gut-wrenching medical choices

Patient decision aids might help with routine health choices. The science of decision-making also can help navigate ethically complex choices.

Ethics
Young patient in physician's office
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4 MIN READ

Pediatric decision-making: Help parents protect, empower kids

While bearing the weighty responsibility of making medical decisions for children when they lack capacity, parents can also promote patient autonomy.

Ethics
Woman looking through blinds
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3 MIN READ

Errors happen. What to do when there's no one to whom to say "I'm sorry.”

The absence of a surrogate does not obviate a physician’s responsibility to address mistakes. Know these three key steps.

Ethics
Two women speaking
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4 MIN READ

Doctors battle state law that forces them to mislead patients

Two North Dakota legal provisions turn physicians into mouthpieces for politically motivated messages that could harm patients. The AMA is suing to overturn them.

Physician-Patient Relationship
2 MIN READ

Code of Medical Ethics: Consent, communication & decision making

Help your patients make well-considered decisions about their care and treatment by reading up on medical ethics of consent.

Ethics
Patient monitor in a clinical setting
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4 MIN READ

Many ICU talks with family fall short on shared decision-making

26% of physician conversations lack deliberation about the patients’ values, preferences. A physician expert recommends ways to improve.

Physician-Patient Relationship
Patient receiving an ultrasound
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4 MIN READ

Ruling on Kentucky law undermines patient-physician relationship

U.S. appellate court upholds Kentucky law requiring women to view ultrasound before abortion, contradicts earlier ruling on North Carolina’s similar law.

Physician-Patient Relationship
Multicolored words facing different directions
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4 MIN READ

7 complex words you shouldn’t include on your consent form

A study finds that less than 10% of cancer treatment consent forms meet the National Cancer Institute’s readability recommendation. The forms also commonly include these hard-to-understand words.

Ethics
Woman in lab coat at testing machine
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3 MIN READ

When patients get overwhelmed, informed consent needs rethinking

Sometimes patients cannot realistically provide informed consent. In those situations, physicians have a higher obligation: protecting them from being overwhelmed.

Ethics