Dr Casey Patrick joins Ethics Talk to discuss his article: “According to Which Criteria Should a Return EMS Trip of Long Duration and Distance Be Deemed Ethically Justifiable?”

It’s a challenge to manage care for homeless people who have chronic health problems and seek warmth and safety in hospital emergency rooms.

It’s a challenge to manage care for homeless people who have chronic health problems and seek warmth and safety in hospital emergency rooms.

Principles of respect for autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence guide trauma-informed care. Care ethics should also support this framework for responding to the health needs of trafficked patients.

Assessing and treating patient pain effectively, particularly in the emergency department, demands honest self-reflection on the part of physicians.

Clinicians diagnosing and treating potentially trafficked patients with co-occurring addiction and mental illness should guard against expressing negative biases.

Determining which patients are appropriate candidates for mandated substance-abuse treatment remains controversial and complicated.

Addicts quickly learn the diagnoses that cannot be definitively confirmed or ruled out by examinations or test results but that elicit prescriptions for opioid pain management.

Assessing and adequately documenting a patient’s decision-making capacity is a responsibility and skill required of all EMS personnel.

Evaluar y documentar adecuadamente la capacidad de toma de decisiones de un paciente es una responsabilidad y una habilidad requerida de todo el personal del SEM.