Dr Dónal O’Mathúna joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article, coauthored with Dr Nawaraj Upadhaya: “Should Children Be Enrolled in Clinical Research in Conflict Zones?”

Dr Amber R. Comer joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Meredith Rappaport: “Treating Patients in Non-Labor and Delivery OB/GYN Examinations and Procedures.”

State laws often require physicians to report suspected abuse and assault, creating a dilemma for physicians who must not only treat the injured patient but act as an informant to police.

Physicians are bound in most states to report treating injuries they suspect are violence related.

Protecting patients rather than informed consent should be the goal when the complexity of information overwhelms patients’ decision-making capacity.

Physicians can take an active role in helping victims of domestic partner abuse receive the medical care and emotional support needed.

Physicians can take an active role in helping victims of domestic partner abuse receive the medical care and emotional support needed.

Advice for enrolling patients in clinical trials.

Some commentators say comparative trials of FDA-approved drugs are overburdened by current Common Rule regulations and that researchers should not be required to obtain explicit consent for participation in the most innocuous of these trials.

Clinical equipoise—the idea that the community of medical experts is uncertain about the relative therapeutic merits of the arms of a clinical trial at its outset—mitigates physicians’ responsibility for patients’ poor outcomes when patients are assigned to the control arm or are harmed by an investigational agent.