A close study of a literary memoir can help resident physicians understand the complex, inextricable relationship between a patient’s autonomy and his vulnerability.
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.
Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH, David Munson, MD, and Wynne Morrison, MD
The way that we choose how to frame the conversation with parents about halting or continuing such therapy for their children who will not recover has special importance in medicine and in society.
A medical student's perspective on the importance of empathy in patient-physician relationships and a reflection on how empathy was taught in his medical school.
Frank A. Chervenak, MD and Laurence B. McCullough, PhD
Clinical facts and physicians’ ethical obligations are critical in resolving disagreements between parents and physicians about resuscitation of an extremely premature infant.
Nonlegal, judicial, and statutory courses of action are available to patient surrogates and physicians who cannot agree on withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment.
Physicians need to manage expectations and clearly explain the prognosis of ICU patients to their families, particularly when the outcome is a negative one.
Lorraine M. Stone, MD, MSPH and James A. Tulsky, MD
Physicians should develop a specific strategy for talking to relatively healthy patients about their CPR preferences in the event they become seriously ill in the future.
A review of three journal articles shows the significant impact that poverty has on physical and mental health status, as well as all causes of mortality.