In cost-effectiveness research, the cost of a medical intervention is reported as a dollar amount per quality-adjusted life year gained—the quality of health and the length of time over which the health state exists.
The Moseley study found no significant difference between those in the arthroscopic lavage and debridement arm of the study and those in the sham surgery arm.
Decision-making capacity can be preserved in patients with mental illness and should be formally assessed in the context of their values and past decisions.
AMA J Ethics. 2017;19(5):416-425. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.5.ecas1-1705.
It would be unwise medically, economically, or ethically to ignore medical details and rely instead on crude placeholders such as age in attempting to use resources most efficiently and effectively.
Withholding information from patients during an informed consent process is ethically unacceptable. Patients may restrict the amount of information they wish to receive or designate someone else to receive the information for them.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(3):209-214. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.3.ecas2-1503.
An adolescent patient with poor social support who has already lost one transplanted kidney due to complications of nonadherence may not automatically be inappropriate to list for a second transplant if he can prove his ability to adhere to the demands of a dialysis regimen.