SPOTLIGHT -
Ethical Obligations and Genetic Screening
This blog discusses how OB/GYNs need not only to understand the science behind genetic screening but also to counsel patients properly about the results.
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What's an Ethical Response to Home Birth?
In this blog, Paul Burcher, MD, PhD, considers the professional obligations of obstetricians in a hospital setting to women who opt for a home birth.
The Scylla and Charybdis of Medical Ethics
Not enough medicine or not enough ethics? Paul Burcher, MD, PhD, shares his thoughts on finding the balance for good medical ethical decision making.
Refusal of C-Section: Where Does Your Moral Compass Lead You?
Forcing surgery on a patient is never okay. Paul Burcher, MD, PhD, discusses respecting patient choice even when the clinical outcomes may be regrettable.
Losing Informed Consent
Informed consent is more than just a signed consent form, says ethics blogger Paul Burcher, MD, PhD, who weighs in on a different way to think about this practice.
Professionalism, Second Opinions, and Keeping Ego Out of Medicine
Respect but do not protect: How we treat colleagues affects patient care and how patients perceive us. Here are practical tips for navigating difficult professional moments.
Do EMRs Make Clinicians Less Ethical?
Electronic medical records have a purpose, but they also may encourage physicians to behave unethically. More to the point: would your patient recognize her exam as described in an EMR?
When Good Intentions Lead to Unethical Prescriptions: A Case Against Bed Rest
Bed rest to prevent miscarriage is a historical treatment unsupported by evidence. Read why one physician believes that prescribing bed rest violates nonmaleficence.
The Ethical Ob/Gyn: Designing Babies
The ethical issues between two new technologies are stark. One aims to cure disease, whereas the other threatens to alter fundamentally the parent-child relationship.
The Ethical Ob/Gyn: Don’t Dread the Birth Plan
A birth plan should not be viewed as an advance directive but rather as a record of aspirations. Labor is a time of improvisation, and no one can foresee its course.
The Ethical Ob/Gyn: Is it Possible to "Do No Harm"?
The duty to nonmaleficence suggests that it might be most ethical to deny patients when what they want presents too much risk, and too little benefit--even at the expense of respecting their autonomy.