The practice of banking sperm from adolescents about to undergo chemotherapy is not universal, which lends support to the argument that parental consent be required for the intervention.
“Difficult” patient encounters can be exacerbated by procedural and technological infrastructure that increases access to electronic health records (EHRs).
AMA J Ethics. 2017; 19(4):374-380. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.4.stas1-1704.
Our ability to infer mental states from fMRI scans is still rudimentary, but the time may be approaching when neuroimaging can be used to indicate witnesses’ reliability in court proceedings.
Putting the interest of patients first means attending to what the patient thinks is most important as well as treating medically significant symptoms and conditions.