I gave a talk Wednesday as part of an ethics series here at Duke. Here is one take on my presentation. See if you can spot the Far Side reference!
The University of Chicago Medicine’s MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, where I trained in the early 90s, has been awarded the prestigious Cornerstone Award from the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities for “outstanding contributions from an institution that has helped shape the direction of the fields of bioethics and/or medical humanities.” To learn…
Lance Armstrong will soon be competing again in bicycle races around the world, meaning that the casual biking fan will once again show interest in the sport. It also means that doping allegations against Armstrong are likely to resume. If Lance wins some big races — at his age and after so long away from…
No sooner had the Obama administration committed a billion dollars to comparative effectiveness research than the critics began laying out their concerns: such research is a prelude to rationing, they said; it threatens to thwart doctors’ and patients’ abilities to make their own decisions. It will transfer too much power to government bureaucrats and treat…
There is a good debate starting up on a website called Prepared Patient Forum, about how much information patients should get when facing important medical decisions. You might want to click on this link and join in.
In two recent posts, I have posed questions about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of manipulating consumers by taking advantage of behavioral phenomena beyond their awareness. We behavioral scientists know things about human nature that most people haven’t learned. That is why we can fill books with visual illusions – our understanding of how the brain…
A NY woman is suing her doctor for testing her for HIV without her consent, then telling her the result (which was positive). I recently participated in a HuffPost Live discussion on this doctor’s actions. Watch it