Decision making in health care demands that we balance multiple considerations, like quality of life, statistics, and how different options could affect others. Dr Brian Zikmund-Fisher shares his own experience as a patient and explains how decision science can help us navigate ethically complex health decisions.  

Labels commonly used in clinical settings, like “elective” or “therapeutic,” influence how we think about the justifiability of abortion. We talk with Professor Katie Watson and Dr Maryl Sackeim about how the language clinicians use to describe abortion can affect patients’ experiences and even cause harm.

Drs Katrina Bramstedt and Ana Iltis discuss the development of QoL assessment tools to help patient-subjects considering reconstructive transplantation.

Dr Mitesh Patel joins us on this episode of Ethics Talk to discuss nudges, how they can be used effectively in health care, and how to identify and avoid the potential ethical pitfalls of guiding behavior.

Dr Eric Plemons joins Ethics Talk to discuss facial feminization surgery and how clinicians can best support patient decisions about gender-affirming care.

Dr Jeanne Kisacky joins Ethics Talk to discuss changes in hospital design from the late 1800s to the present, and human-centered design specialist John Meyer explains how “design thinking” can help health professionals provide better care for patients.

A patient’s refusal of tracheostomy during an anticipated difficult intubation prompts critical questions about how to best express respect for a pediatric patient’s autonomy and whether and when deviation from standard of care is clinically and ethically appropriate.

Lack of ethical, legal, and clinical consensus about best practice sometimes combines with a poor clinical evidence base.

Perhaps machine learning systems trained on patients’ electronic health records and social media footprints could be used as decision aids when patients lack capacity or face overwhelming decisions.

Graphic pathographies can teach medical students to acknowledge patients’ emotional experiences in delivering diagnosis and treatment.