Lauren C. Nigro, MD, Michael J. Feldman, MD, Robin L. Foster, MD, and Andrea L. Pozez, MD
Suspected child abuse cases can be identified and repeat hospitalizations of such cases prevented using multidisciplinary teams to evaluate pediatric burns.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(6):552-559. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2018.20.6.org1-1806.
Despite a tendency to react otherwise, there is no obvious reason to believe that economically disadvantaged people ought not to be exposed to the same levels of research risk as the rest of the population.
The greatest pressure to resuscitate the extremely low-birth-weight infant often results from successful marketing efforts that lead families to expect that their premature infants will be cute and healthy.
Public and private choices about allocation of funds for research raise a social-justice question: are these funding sources making fair decisions about where to invest their resources? The NIH has the clearest obligation to do so because it is taxpayer-supported.
The question that comes to mind when one considers the risks of a clinical trial is, “Why would anyone agree to participate?” Interviews with trial volunteers and their family members make clear that often it is the appeal of discovering something new and unknown.
Physicians new to a case might object to an established care plan. Practice variation, clinical momentum, and how value is assigned by different parties to acute care and comfort measures can each contribute to conflict in these cases.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(8):E699-707. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.699.