Though Americans are a religious people, there are times when religion or religious views may confound the ethical process. This article claims that religious values may be expressed as either principles or narratives, then seeks to establish a case for dealing with religious claims as "principled narratives." Methods of evaluation ...

JONA's Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation interviewed Attorney Mark Allen Kleiman regarding the False Claims Act. Mr. Kleiman has had much experience with this Act in both prosecution and consulting. In this interview, he provides great insight into the details and interpretations of the Act, as well as implications for ...

A psychiatric consultation is presented in which the physician uses a cardiac monitor in the manner of a lie-detector. Ethical analysis of a clinician's duties in cases of suspected malingering addresses both the standard of informed consent necessary for such assessments and the potential forensic consequences of unanticipated clinical findings.

This fictitious case study explores the issues that surround the relationships between consultants and their clients, as well as the dynamics of a newly merged organization. Susan Barlow, a senior consultant with the Statler Group, dreaded her upcoming status meeting. She had thought it a lucky break when she got ...

This article reflects on the author's modest experience as an expert witness in two trials: Osheroff vs. Greenspan (1983), and In the Matter of Baby K (1994). Bioethicists' expertise as scholar-teachers and consultants on particular issues merits qualification by judges as expert witnesses. The article argues that a different kind ...

Psychiatrists have been extensively involved in ethics in the general hospital over the past two decades and have functioned in that area in a variety of roles. The basis for psychiatry's strong interest in bioethics can be understood as related to three factors: familiarity with many of the clinical problems ...

The 27th annual meeting of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) was held November 13-16, 1996 in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference boasted numerous educational sessions and industry symposia. Clearly, the highlight of this year's annual meeting for the more than 1,000 conferees was the release of preliminary results of ...

The 1995 Encyclopedia of Bioethics is an almost complete reworking of the original 1978 edition, due to the expanding nature of the field. The following article focuses on how the second edition of the Encyclopedia deals with the topic of "clinical ethics" and three related topics: "nursing ethics", "trust", and ...

Guidelines for conducting forensic psychiatric consultations and evaluations have not been clearly established. The authors offer and discuss such guidelines, which are based upon the boundary guidelines in general psychiatric practice, ethics principles in general psychiatry, ethics principles in forensic psychiatry, and the relevant case and statutory law. These guidelines ...

This article reviews the historical and current controversies about the nature of clinical ethics consultation, as a way to focus on the place and responsibility of ethics consultants within the context of clinical conversation--interpreted as a form of dialogue. These matters are approached through a particularly compelling instance of the ...

Ethics consultation at the bedside has been hailed as a better way than courts and ethics committees to empower patients and make explicit the value components of treatment decisions. But close examination of the practice of ethics consultation reveals that it in fact risks subverting those ends by interpolating a ...

Escalation of myriad litigious facets of our society can be found in almost any large city newspaper, especially in the United States, and, in particular, in the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory listing of personal injury (toxic tort) lawyers--many with full-page advertisements offering a cornucopia of services replete with ...

Ethics consultation, and indeed the whole field of bioethics, is built on the premise that everyone would benefit from the insights of others when facing ethical problems or issues. Who those others should be and how their insights should be shared is currently the focus of serious debate, as the ...

The author reviewed the literature on compensation for ethics consultation and undertook an informal telephone survey of 33 nationally prominent clinical ethics consultants in American health care institutions and medical schools in late fall 1992. Twenty-nine (88%) of 33 consultants responded. Most donate their time when asked to consult and ...

The Orthologic award for clinical excellence is granted annually by the Scholarship Committee at the British Orthodontic Conference. It is judged on the presentation of detailed clinical records of three patients treated with an edgewise fixed appliance system. This scholarship is open to practitioners who have gained their initial orthodontic ...

Four prominent views of the nature and methods of clinical ethics (especially in consultation forums) are reviewed; each is then submitted to a criticism intended to show both weaknesses and strengths. It is argued that clinical ethics needs to be responsive to the specific complexities of clinical situations. For this, ...

Well, as Socrates exclaimed, "By the dog, Gorgias, there will be a great deal of discussion before we get to the truth of all this." In the course of that discussion, we will find that Mr. Scofield does ask many very pertinent questions about the nature and teaching of ethics. ...

Scofield's article is an extremely important paper that is well-written, carefully and articulately argued, but fundamentally wrong, i.e., philosophically wrong. His position ultimately leads to pure subjectivism of values or a radical relativism of values where anyone's judgment about values is just as good as anyone else's judgment. He holds ...

Giles Scofield's argument indicates ethics consultants may need to better clarify what in fact they are and what they are not doing, claiming, and striving for. But we must not step back too far. We must neither engage in putting in envious professional claims for exclusive rights in the area ...

Increasing complexities facing physicians negotiating the bedside decision continue to fuel the debate over who is the appropriate party to offer ethics consults, should one be needed, during the decision-making process. Some very good arguments have been put forth on behalf of clinical ethicists as being the proper and best ...

I believe that British orthodontics is in a mess. Superficially, things may appear remarkably healthy. A regional consultant network is established. The MOrth is accepted as the hallmark of a 3-year specialist training. Specialist registration looks likely to be achieved. Work on unification of the orthodontic societies is well under ...

Conclusion: Simpson's article [in this issue, p. 124-130] provides us with needed data about the development and utilization of an ethics consultation service in a community hospital. It makes clear, however, how much further we have to go in developing guiding standards for practitioners and institutions. We need to learn ...

[The author identifies] five problems familiar to clinical ethicists. (1) Physicians often do not recognize important ethical issues. (2) Debate exists over whether such consultations should give specific management recommendations. (3) Principles of medical ethics cannot, by themselves, resolve real ethical issues. (4) The patient's interests sometimes conflict with the ...

In this paper we attempt to show how the goal of resolving moral problems in a patient's care can best be achieved by working at the bedside. We present and discuss three cases to illustrate the art and science of clinical ethics consultation. The sine qua non of the clinical ...

Ethical issues are receiving considerable attention in the scientific community just as in other areas of society. Scientists who have in the past been accorded a select position in society are no longer guaranteed that status just by virtue of their occupation. Science, and scientists, may not yet be subject ...

The new phenomenon of clinical ethics is analyzed from a role theoretic perspective that differentiates consulting, teaching, watching, and witnessing. Teaching and consulting are seen as main role alternatives in clinical ethics practice, with watching and witnessing defining transitional states that reveal the complexity of clinical ethics. The problem of ...

Because of the increasing number of neuroethical dilemmas in medicine, neurologists are becoming more involved with the activities of institutional ethics committees and also serving as ethics consultants. This article discusses the role and functions of a "neuroethicist" and gives common clinical examples that illustrate how a neurologist can be ...

An open forum was held on May 16, 1989 on the topic, A New Clinical Engineering Society? Representatives of the AAMI, IEEE/EMBS, ASHE and the SBET presented descriptions of the roles and services of their societies in support of Clinical Engineers and BMETs. Independent Clinical Engineers described their concerns regarding ...

To address moral questions in patient care, hospitals and health care systems have enlisted the help of hospital ethicists, ethics committees, and ethics consultation services. Most physicians have not been trained in the concepts, skills, or language of clinical ethics, and few ethicists have been trained in clinical medicine, so ...

This Memorandum summarizes the conclusions and recommendations of the participants at the Consultation which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17-18 February 1988 to discuss the WHO Programme for Influenza Surveillance.

The CAP Washington office, under the aegis of the Council on Government and Professional Affairs, provides information and guidance to College members and state pathology societies on relationships of pathologists with governmental bodies, and on reimbursement issues. This article reports the findings of a survey conducted in autumn of 1985 ...

Trilingual ed.- Job number added acc. to DOCREP assignment

The two principal legal remedies available to victims of asbestos-related disease are (1) claims for benefits under workers' compensation laws and (2) suits for damages under the laws of products liability. The medicolegal issues and the part of the consulting pathologist as medicolegal consultant and expert witness in each of ...