Physicians need to understand the resources available to them to serve the sometimes conflicting needs of the pediatric patients' best interest and the religious beliefs of the patients' parents.
Physicians can enhance communication with patients and their families about end-of-life issues through the use of active listening, simple silence, and open-ended questions, provided in unambiguous, clear terms.
An ethical case explores a 70-year-old man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who wants to have his pacemaker turned off in order to hasten what he fears may be an unpleasant death.
An ethical case explores a 70-year-old man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer who wants to have his pacemaker turned off in order to hasten what he fears may be an unpleasant death.
An attending physician in an urban teaching hospital faces an ethical dilemma when a mother refused to allow an African American medical student to examine her child.
Readers are referred to an article by Neil Farber et al in the Archives of Internal Medicine to discuss whether it is appropriate for physicians to administer lethal injections for capital punishment when medical society policies forbid physician participation.