Unclear regulations and informal data gathering on immigrants who receive or donate organs can cause mistrust and suspicion of the organ allocation system and affect donation rates.
When recruiting physicians from developing countries for U.S. residency training slots there are ethical concerns that program directors and potential residents should be aware of and discuss.
Immigrant patients are often bewildered when they need to seek health care in the U.S., and that care usually comes from physicians who are unsympathetic to their plight.
With good planning and good will, medical professionals’ right of conscience and patients’ rights to controversial services can be both protected and accommodated.
One way of thinking about whether medical school candidates' personalities should influence admission is to ask the question, "Would you want this person to care for one of your loved ones?"
Johanna Shapiro, PhD, Elena Bezzubova, MD, PhD, and Ronald Koons, MD
Exposing medical students to narrative medicine by having them tell and interpret the stories of their patient encounters may help them become more empathic, more present, and more insightful physicians.
Applicants to medical school are expected to live by their presentation of themselves and of their commitment to medical practice. It is not just a retrospective report but also a promise to which admissions officers should be able to expect them to adhere.