Among the important functions of the healthcare provider in providing quality care is the monitoring of the social environment of the patient. Although it is increasingly recognized that caring activity must include the whole patient and not merely the technical and pharmacological aspects of the patient's needs, the impact of the social environment upon the total health state (which includes physical, emotional, and social components) has not been explored and debated to the extent that It might be.

In this essay I will examine why the truth is so important to human communication in general, the types of truth, and why truth is only a relative value. After those introductory points, I will sketch the ways in which the truth is overridden or trumped by other concerns in the clinical setting. I will then discuss cases that fall into five distinct categories. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of truth telling and its primacy among secondary goods in the healthcare professional-patient relationship.

Virtually all persons who have had a hand in shaping the concept of ethics committees in this country accept the principle that the individuals making up the ethics committee should represent different interests, backgrounds, and viewpoints. In other words, ethics committees are intended mainly to represent the interests of the communities they serve. However, ethics committees often also serve hospitals that are religiously based and who, not unreasonably, may insist on affirming their own institutional morality and their own peculiar way of looking at some problems. Deep-seated ethical quandaries, especially in shaping policy, are often unavoidable.

A good deal of attention has been recently focused on the presumed advertising excesses of the healthcare industry in its promotion techniques to healthcare professionals, whether through offering gratuities such as gifts, honoraria, or travel support2-6 or through deception. Two basic concerns have been expressed: Does the acceptance of gratuities bias the recipient, tainting his or her responsibilities as the patient's agent? Does acceptance of the gratuity by the healthcare professional contribute to the high cost of healthcare products? The California Society of Hospital Pharmacists was recently asked by its members to formulate a policy for an appropriate relationship between the Society and the healthcare industry, addressing these concerns. In formulating its policy, it became clear that the Society depended on healthcare industry support, gathered through journal advertising, fees for booths at its various educational events, and grants for speakers.

The right to conceive and bear children has been protected both in law and in policy. Human society has from its earliest time valued children and defended procreation as a basic right.

Modern health technology offers the possibility of conception to the estimated 2.5 million infertile couples who may wish to have children. For these persons, infertility treatment offers the hope of having children, an activity deemed basic and essential in human society.

In general, the state has been reluctant to directly interfere in the reproductive decisions of individuals. However, the state may act to increase or reduce access to reproductive services in a variety of ways. For example, recent legislation regulating fertility clinics affects the distribution of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to describe this legislation, project its probable effects on the distribution of ART services, and analyze these effects based on distributive theories of justice.

The single greatest challenge facing managers in the developed countries of the world is to raise the productivity of knowledge and service workers. This challenge, which will dominate the management agenda for the next several decades, will ultimately determine the competitive performance of companies. Even more important, it will determine the very fabric of society and the quality of life of every industrialized nation. … Unless this challenge is met, the developed world will face increasing social tensions, increasing polarization, increasing radicalization, possibly even class war.

Japan has no law recognizing the condition of brain death as the standard for determining that an individual has died. Instead, it is customary medical practice to declare a person dead when three conditions have been met: cessation of heart beat, cessation of respiration, and opening of the pupils. Of the developed nations, only Japan and Israel do not recognize brain death as the death of the human person.

As noted In Part II of this series (CQ 1994;3:133–142), perhaps the most critical elements to define in deciding when treatment Is futile are the goals of therapy from, both the physician's and the patient's point of view. A patient's personal goals are based upon value system., life goals, and personal definition of “quality of life.” These personal goals must then be interpreted and applied in a reasonable and realistic fashion against what the physician has previously described as the legitimate, objective, and attainable therapeutic goals. As far as possible, both, parties must work together to eliminate the uncertainties in their discussion. The ideal situation includes a competent, alert patient and a prudent, caring physician who have had a long-term ongoing relationship. The key to collaboration is communication: a sincere interest in and professional concern for the patient; a willingness to be honest and open; a commitment to talk and to listen; an attempt to make one another feel comfortable in the collaboration; and an effort to recognize and to overcome barriers to communication, whether barriers are personal to either the patient or the physician or are professional, institutional, or societal.

So much philosophical theory is irrelevant for the practice of ethics! How many wasted volumes of tortuous arguments and counterarguments have been written in search of an elusive theory of ethics that could be applied deductively, without modification, to produce “correct” answers under all circumstances to any ethical problem? The practice of ethics is much closer to the common sense casuistry approach outlined by Jonsen and Toulmin, in which we work from. intuitively grasped, paradigm, cases by way of analogy to provide presumptive answers to more complex problems. Alasdair Maclntyre argued however that we cannot trust such individualistic intuitive judgements. Thus we should start by looking at his critique of modern ethics.

Lillian T. is a 22-year-old woman with Down Syndrome. Cared for by her mother, she has lived all her life in the same small town and is a quiet, cooperative, and happy individual. Her main pleasures revolve around a steady routine that includes sewing in a sheltered workshop 5 days each week. She performs her own washing and dressing, makes simple meals for herself, and enjoys television.

The Research Center for Surgery (RCS) in Moscow is recognized as one of the largest and most prestigious surgical institutions in Russia. In this 400-bed facility more than 3,000 surgical procedures are performed annually, including heart, liver, and pancreas interventions and the reimplantation of limbs. The main focus of the research program at the RCS is on the transplantation of organs and reconstructive surgery. All procedures are free of charge to the patient.

Any humane society needs a just and compassionate way to care for those who are sick, and should be vigilant in identifying and eliminating barriers that frustrate efforts to adequately care for the sick. Some current insurance underwriting practices constitute effective barriers to access to healthcare and serve to diminish the place of freedom and justice in our healthcare system.

Across the world, healthcare providers must wrestle with the twin ogres of finite resources and infinite demand. Successful healthcare delivery creates its own legacy of need. For example, a renal failure patient may now be given a greatly extended life by means of dialysis or organ transplantation. In the process, the healthcare provider has created a permanent demand for services during that extended life. It has been estimated that the recurrent cost of maintaining a patient on hemodialysis for 1 year in the United Kingdom is in the region of £20,000.