A medical student describes and comments on a case in which a patient who experienced complications following a cardiac catheterization wished to remain in the hospital until the injury to his groin was entirely healed.
Advance directives do not always resolve questions about the best care for patients who no longer have decision-making capacity; physicians and patient surrogates can take alternative approaches to arrive at the best care decision.
Adaptive, simulation-based Internet training sites with intelligent agents can offer medical students a virtual clinic for learning about the process and multiple outcomes of patient decision making.
Taking care of patients whose cultures, belief systems, and family hierarchy structures differ from those on which many U.S. laws and regulations involves strategies—particularly regarding end-of-life care and surrogate decision making.
Physicians have a responsibility to advocate for each patient’s best care, even when doing so entails opposing hospital policy, seeking legal help, and making the case public.
Frank W. J. Anderson, MD, MPH and Tanyaporn Wansom, MD, MPP
The new model of global health in medicine is a co-creative one in which health priority setting and problem solving are accomplished collaboratively among the visiting physician team, the communities of patients they serve, and local professional caregivers.
A major contributor to the lack of medicines in developing countries is an intellectual property regime that allows proprietary drug companies with intellectual property monopolies to charge high prices and maximize profit.
The open-access journal movement seeks to make medical research and treatment articles available free of charge to health professionals around the globe.