http://www.bioethics.net/rss/hc.xml bioethics news everyday from bioethics.net/American Journal of Bioethics Copyright 2005 bioethics.net Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:43:51 EST http://www.bioethics.net/ http://www.bioethics.net/images/logo_frontpage_wht.gif 60 200 webmaster@bioethics.net newsupdate@bioethics.net en-us http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7197 Recently released breast cancer screening recommendations represent a "step backward" for women's health care and the "slippery slope" health care could take under Democrats' proposed policies, a group of Republican congresswomen said today. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:43:51 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7190 When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich. The poll, conducted by Stanford University with the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as "Cadillac plans." Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:21:51 EST http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7166 Anyone who has struggled with their weight knows what it's like to be on the receiving end of fat jokes. Despite a national obesity epidemic, our society isn't particularly sensitive to overweight people. Doctors included. Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:04:51 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7150 Doctors can be fairly significant, one would think, in helping people combat obesity-related health problems. But a good working relationship usually begins with respect. And that might be a stumbling block. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:40:31 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7135 There may not be a simple solution to the complex problem of reforming health care, but bioethicist Mark Aita, S.J., M.D., assistant director of the Institute for Catholic Bioethics at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, is certain of one thing - the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss is that insured Americans contribute to the problem. Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:29:03 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7123 Experts largely agree on the need to change how health care providers are paid. Currently, most are reimbursed for every service they provide, but so-called fee-for-service payment systems do little to encourage cost control or, since often no one provider is in charge, to effectively coordinate patient care. Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:57:54 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7122 Has it ever worried you that your surgeon has a conflict of interest when recommending an operation? The simple fact is that surgeons get paid when they operate and not when they don't. It is, of course, a central premise in medical ethics that a surgeon must only consider the patient's best interest when recommending an operation. Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:18:32 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7121 In the din of voices arrayed against health care reform, one word has come to symbolize the presumed evil of the reformers' plans: rationing. Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:14:58 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7117 As hard as it may be to believe, or to swallow, literature may offer an Rx for this cultural crisis. Fiction, poetry, and memoirs can help us think deeply and differently about sickness and suffering, healing and cures. And if we begin to think deeply and differently about these things, new and imaginative (and less costly) ways for reforming healthcare may come to light. Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:26:59 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7114 Hospitals Find Way to Make Care Cheaper -- Make It Better Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:14:26 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7113 In the current healthcare-reform debate, organized medicine has lobbied lawmakers to fix the medical liability system -- specifically, by capping noneconomic damages in malpractice jury awards. President Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus have responded with proposals for malpractice reform that omit "caps" and stress patient safety over a physician's legal safety. Instead of erecting defenses against plaintiffs and their attorneys, their proposals could encourage physicians to apologize for clinical mistakes and offer fair compensation, all outside of the courts. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:55:25 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7110 Utah is only the second state to develop its own insurance exchange, and it is distinctly different from its better-known counterpart in Massachusetts. It is also unlike anything currently envisioned in Congress. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:46:42 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7108 For years I've heard friends describe experiences of being caught in a web of excessive and unnecessary medical testing. Their doctors ordered test Z to investigate a seemingly incidental finding on test Y, which had come about because of a borderline abnormality on test X. Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:22:35 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7103 What does it mean to be a "just" and "caring" society when America has limited resources in the form of tax and insurance premium dollars to meet virtually unlimited health care needs? We spent $2.4 trillion on health care in the United States in 2008, about 17 percent of gross domestic product or national output, and projections call for that rising to $4.4 trillion in 2018, or 20.5 percent of likely GDP. A torrent of expensive new medical technologies drives costs upward. Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:42:22 EDT http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=7072 AS we reach for the dream of health care for all, we need to focus our reform energies on improving patient safety. Preventing medical errors will lower health-care costs, reduce doctors' insurance premiums and protect patients. Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:01:37 EDT