M. Bennet Broner is a medical ethicist.
Like you, I receive many emails concerning environmental toxins. Many of their claims are based on conjecture rather than scientific evidence and are delivered in a panicked manner, implying that you or a family member is doomed if you do not act quickly. It is especially annoying that they often target minor issues rather than major ones. For example, they have emphasized the danger of artificial sweeteners. However, if one …
We often see media headlines or articles about scientific and medical advancements promising imminent treatments or cures. I am not referring to advertisements that frequently masquerade as stories for naturopathic, homeopathic, or other unproven remedies, but rather those from supposedly reliable sources, such as CBS, Yahoo, or the Chicago Tribune.
Reporters or news writers often compose them, despite lacking training in science or medical reporting. They frequently make inappropriate assumptions and …
Previously, I wrote about politicians regulating medical practice. I support regulations that protect individual or public health. However, when these laws are not evidence-based, misguided or frivolous, and potentially harmful, as occurred when 16 state legislatures permitted over-the-counter sale of ivermectin, they are unacceptable.
There have been instances when pregnant women, who, because of circumstances, were unable to adhere to physician advice for increased bed rest to avoid premature labor, were …
Recently, researchers examined whether there had been any changes in the way terminal cancer patients died from 2014 to 2019, given the increased information available on hospice, palliative care, and advanced end-of-life planning (EOLP). They asked whether those who were terminal continued aggressive treatment until their demise. The authors anticipated a decrease in this, but found that the frequency of cancer patients who continued aggressive therapy had not declined. The …
In January, I wrote regarding the biased NBC report on unidentified bodies from a coroner’s office being used by a medical school. Subsequently, the network aired two related episodes.
The second report centered on a self-employed purveyor of bodies and parts. He displayed no respect for the people whose bodies or parts he sold. The report was disturbing, as there is an ethical difference between an individual profiting from these …
Over 80 percent of people are discontented with their medical insurance, whether provided by the government, their employer, or a commercial company. Common complaints are cost, increasing prices, and limited or rejected coverage. Regardless of the insurance’s source, we, the citizens, pay the bill through higher co-payments, deductibles, or premiums. Thus, their future payments increase when people request increased coverage for specific treatments, tests, or conditions.
However, individual desires are not …
In numerous writings and venues regarding physician practice, the claim is made that “physician education is lacking in nutrition, geriatrics, care for non-cisgender people, relating to patients in general, cultural respect, equitable treatment, etc.” While all of these suggestions have merit, to what extent would they lengthen the already most extended medical school curriculum among developed countries? Or would those who advocate for these additions propose that they replace parts …
In past decades, physicians practiced medicine. The majority were dedicated to patient well-being. They were paternalistic and decided what was in their patients’ best interests, and patients generally trusted their judgments. In the 1970s, ethicists concluded that patients and clinicians should make treatment decisions jointly. This position has been championed since then, despite multiple surveys demonstrating that more than 50 percent of patients prefer their physicians to be the decision-makers. …
In a 2023 study, researchers explored the medical needs of elderly, mentally deficient individuals who lived alone. A common comment by interviewed physicians was that they knew some patients required greater supervision or care, but they acceded to patient choices to return home. Are clinicians placing too great an emphasis on competency and patient rights rather than on patient well-being?
Everyone knows the phrase: “First, do no harm.” Yet today, deciding …
Last September, NBC News aired a one-sided report on the arrangement between a county coroner and a medical school apropos the transfer of unclaimed corpses with reportedly inadequate effort to find family. In addition to a grieving family, an academic bioethicist was interviewed who expressed horror at the transfer procedure. The report did a disservice both to bioethics and to necessary medical training and research.
In a similar incident, a coroner …
Recently, consumer articles heralded that blood tests for detecting Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) and many cancers were close to clinical availability. Given the narrow window in which AD must be diagnosed for present treatments to be effective, and questions regarding the utility of early cancer detection, will these tests provide any patient advantage?
Presently, there are two medications to treat AD. Neither is curative, but they slow disease progress by about five …
According to the National Institutes of Health, the majority of individuals experience several traumatic events in their lifetimes, but do they all develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? If you question the general populace or the media, they would indicate that PTSD is extremely common. Although it varies by sub-population, for the general populace, 13 and above, the rate of diagnosed PTSD is 4 percent to 8 percent. It is highest …
Eight female nurses at a United Kingdom hospital are suing their employer for not assuring their psychological and physical safety. The nurses work in specialized areas that require their changing uniforms once daily. There is a trans-female nurse, similarly specialized, who changes with them. He wanders about the locker room in briefs or nude, the women report, ogling them as they exchange clothing. It has also been related that he …
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I attended a workshop on developing equitable health information materials, emphasizing that people are more responsive to data when individuals of similar complexion and/or features are represented. This concept originated in education, where research indicated that youth learned better from teachers with similar characteristics, and it was subsequently extended to health care. However, universal application is unrealistic, as Black children will not always have Black teachers, and patients of color …
Another recent correlational study on the relationship between talcum powder (TP) and female reproductive tract cancers was published. This research originated in the 1970s when gynecologists at one hospital noted that an unusually high number of women were experiencing these cancers. They reviewed medical records and, in looking at possible causative agents, noted that many of the affected women used TP. They published their findings, and additional case review studies …
I read an array of medical literature, both technical and public. But despite my education, experience, and reasonable intelligence, I find myself bewildered by the overwhelming deluge of information and recommendations: frequently contradictory, at times inaccurate, and often meaningless, that presently inundates individuals. If I can be befuddled, what about the average person with a high school diploma or a bachelor’s degree and little medical experience?
Perhaps there is so much …
There are frequent accusations against physicians and other health care professionals regarding their behavior and/or education: they cannot communicate, are misogynist, racist, and ageist, and are poorly educated, despite American physicians training longer than those in other developed countries. But are these complainants aiming at the most obvious, though not most significant, target? There are more pressing problems than patient-provider relationships, as serious as they are, weightier concerns that are …
A recent TV advertisement attempted to recruit clients for a class action suit against a pharmaceutical manufacturer (PM) for a medication side effect (SE). The “cause of action” was unstated: was it the side effect’s existence or that the company failed to emphasize its severity?
The SE was acknowledged not only by the company but also the FDA, which nonetheless approved the medication (RX), determining that its benefits outweighed the side …
The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published a statement on the importance of shared decision-making (SDM) between physicians and patients. This concept, though at least 50 years old, has become popular in the last decade or so, with expectations of improving patient care, satisfaction, safety, care efficiency, and cost reduction. Though some preliminary research appears to support these promises, other researchers have found that it can increase costs and decrease …
While surfing cellphone news headlines, my attention was caught by one from the New York Post that blared: “Dutch are Euthanizing Autistic People.” The Post aims for sensationalism, and the headline implied mass slaughter, akin to the Nazi gassing of individuals with mental disabilities. As euthanasia is of academic interest to me, I felt compelled to read the story.
The article’s basis was a study conducted at Kingston University, London. …
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