Ethical issues in cutaneous melanoma

Ethical Considerations for Elderly Patients with Cutaneous Malignancy

Discussions of ethics in surgery generally focus on the principles of beneficence, nonmalfeasance, autonomy, and justice. Caring for elderly patients with advanced cutaneous malignancies often requires the added consideration of narrative ethics to account for the expanded circle of care, complex medical conditions, and different goals of treatment often seen in this population. By focusing on the patient's illness narrative and relying on the collective experiences of the patient and surgeon, compassionate and appropriate care can be provided for these often-devastating disease processes.

Ethical Challenges in Cancer Care: A Qualitative Analysis of Nurses' Perceptions

Cancer is a growing problem in the world, meanwhile, the issue of providing care for cancer patients has been associated with multiple ethical challenges (ECs). This study aimed to investigate and explain the nurses' perceptions of ECs in caring for cancer patients in Iran. In this qualitative study, the participants consisted of 25 nurses working in cancer wards. The typical EC that the nurses are faced with while caring for cancer patients included categories such as "creating moral distresses" and "threat to patient's autonomy." The category of creating moral distress consisted of two subcategories, including "faulty communication process" and "provision of futile care." Also, the category of "threat to patient's autonomy" included subcategories of "individual factors" and "organizational factors." Since disregarding ethical principles in caring for patients with cancer will result in greater ECs in this respect, the healthcare administrators should make more effort to help establish transparent rules, and develop protocols needed to identify and eliminate these ECs.