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Manuel J, Pitama S, Clark M, Crowe M, Crengle S, Cunningham R, Gibb S, Petrović-van der Deen FS, Porter RJ, Lacey C. Racism, early psychosis, and institutional contact: A qualitative study of Indigenous experiences. Int J Soc Psychiatry 2023; 69:2121-2127. [PMID: 37665228 PMCID: PMC10685688 DOI: 10.1177/00207640231195297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is evidence of Indigenous and ethnic minority inequities in the incidence and outcomes of early psychosis. Racism has been implicated as having an important role. AIM To use Indigenous experiences to develop a more detailed understanding of how racism operates to impact early psychosis outcomes. METHODS Critical Race Theory informed the methodology used. Twenty-three Indigenous participants participated in four family focus group interviews and thirteen individual interviews, comprising of 9 Māori youth with early psychosis, 10 family members and 4 Māori mental health professionals. An analysis of the data was undertaken using deductive structural coding to identify descriptions of racism, followed by inductive descriptive and pattern coding. RESULTS Participant experiences revealed how racism operates as a socio-cultural phenomenon that interacts with institutional policy and culture across systems pertaining to social responsiveness, risk discourse, and mental health service structures. This is described across three major themes: 1) selective responses based on racial stereotypes, 2) race related risk assessment bias and 3) institutional racism in the mental health workforce. The impacts of racism were reported as inaction in the face of social need, increased use of coercive practices and an under resourced Indigenous mental health workforce. CONCLUSION The study illustrated the inter-related nature of interpersonal, institutional and structural racism with examples of interpersonal racism in the form of negative stereotypes interacting with organizational, socio-cultural and political priorities. These findings indicate that organizational cultures may differentially impact Indigenous and minority people and that social responsiveness, risk discourse and the distribution of workforce expenditure are important targets for anti-racism efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenni Manuel
- Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
- Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Suzanne Pitama
- Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
| | | | - Marie Crowe
- Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Sue Crengle
- Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin School of Medicine, New Zealand
| | - Ruth Cunningham
- Department of Public Health, University of Otago Wellington, Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Sheree Gibb
- Department of Public Health, University of Otago Wellington, Newtown, Wellington, New Zealand
| | | | - Richard J Porter
- Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
- Te Whatu Ora Waitaha, New Zealand
| | - Cameron Lacey
- Māori/Indigenous Health Innovation, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
- Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
- Te Whatu Ora Waitaha, New Zealand
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2
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Parasidis E, Fairchild AL. Closing the Public Health Ethics Gap. N Engl J Med 2022; 387:961-963. [PMID: 36094843 DOI: 10.1056/nejmp2207543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Efthimios Parasidis
- From the Moritz College of Law (E.P.) and the College of Public Health (E.P., A.L.F.), Ohio State University, Columbus
| | - Amy L Fairchild
- From the Moritz College of Law (E.P.) and the College of Public Health (E.P., A.L.F.), Ohio State University, Columbus
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3
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Adams
- Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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4
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Soklaridis S. The Father-Daughter Dinner Dance: A Waltz With Ethics and COVID-19. Acad Med 2021; 96:1682. [PMID: 32483015 PMCID: PMC7288760 DOI: 10.1097/acm.0000000000003523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
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5
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Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic raised distinct challenges in the field of scarce resource allocation, a long-standing area of inquiry in the field of bioethics. Policymakers and states developed crisis guidelines for ventilator triage that incorporated such factors as immediate prognosis, long-term life expectancy, and current stage of life. Often these depend upon existing risk factors for severe illness, including diabetes. However, these algorithms generally failed to account for the underlying structural biases, including systematic racism and economic disparity, that rendered some patients more vulnerable to these conditions. This paper discusses this unique ethical challenge in resource allocation through the lens of care for patients with severe COVID-19 and diabetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob M. Appel
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount
Sinai, NY, USA
- Jacob M. Appel, JD, MD, MPH,
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Education, Icahn School
of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 140 Claremont Ave #3D, New York, NY 10027,
USA.
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6
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gavin Yamey
- Center for Policy Impact in Global Health, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
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7
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Lee N. Lucy Chappell: setting the agenda for UK research policy. Lancet 2021; 398:481. [PMID: 34364511 DOI: 10.1016/s0140-6736(21)01705-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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8
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9
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Abstract
The Covid‐19 pandemic has exposed four myths in bioethics. First, the flood of bioethics publications on how to allocate scarce resources in crisis conditions has assumed authorities would declare the onset of crisis standards of care, yet few have done so. This leaves guidelines in limbo and patients unprotected. Second, the pandemic's realities have exploded traditional boundaries between clinical, research, and public health ethics, requiring bioethics to face the interdigitation of learning, doing, and allocating. Third, without empirical research, the success or failure of ethics guidelines remains unknown, demonstrating that crafting ethics guidance is only the start. And fourth, the pandemic's glaring health inequities require new commitment to learn from communities facing extraordinary challenges. Without that new learning, bioethics methods cannot succeed. The pandemic is a wake‐up call, and bioethics must rise to the challenge.
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10
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Marron JM, Charlot M, Gaddy J, Rosenberg AR. The Ethical Imperative of Equity in Oncology: Lessons Learned From 2020 and a Path Forward. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book 2021; 41:e13-e19. [PMID: 34061560 DOI: 10.1200/edbk_100029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and the simultaneous increased focus on structural racism and racial/ethnic disparities across the United States have shed light on glaring inequities in U.S. health care, both in oncology and more generally. In this article, we describe how, through the lens of fundamental ethical principles, an ethical imperative exists for the oncology community to overcome these inequities in cancer care, research, and the oncology workforce. We first explain why this is an ethical imperative, centering the discussion on lessons learned during 2020. We continue by describing ongoing equity-focused efforts by ASCO and other related professional medical organizations. We end with a call to action-all members of the oncology community have an ethical responsibility to take steps to address inequities in their clinical and academic work-and with guidance to practicing oncologists looking to optimize equity in their research and clinical practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M Marron
- Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
- Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Marjory Charlot
- Division of Oncology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
- University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chapel Hill, NC
| | - Jacquelyne Gaddy
- Division of Oncology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC
| | - Abby R Rosenberg
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
- Palliative Care and Resilience Lab, Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, WA
- Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
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11
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Abstract
Oral health is a critical part of overall health. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of oral health. In this article, we describe how dental practice has been impacted by COVID-19, identify the public health response to COVID-19, and explain the gradual resumption of dental care after the initial disruption due to the pandemic. Finally, we discuss how long-standing health disparities in oral health have been exacerbated by the current pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nanette Elster
- Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, 2160 S. First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153 USA
- Ethics Manager, American Dental Association, 211 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611 USA
| | - Kayhan Parsi
- Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, 2160 S. First Avenue, Maywood, IL 60153 USA
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12
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Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted existing systemic inequities that adversely affect a variety of communities in the United States. These inequities have a direct and adverse impact on the healthcare of our patient population. While civic engagement has not been cultivated in surgical and anesthesia training, we maintain that it is inherent to the core role of the role of a physician. This is supported by moral imperative, professional responsibility, and a legal obligation. We propose that such civic engagement and social justice activism is a neglected, but necessary aspect of physician training. We propose the implementation of a civic advocacy education agenda across department, community and national platforms. Surgical and anesthesiology residency training needs to evolve to the meet these increasing demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kashmira S Chawla
- Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Anusha Jayaram
- Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
- Global Surgery Student Alliance (GSSA), Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Craig D McClain
- Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
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13
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Pinnix CC. A call for an unbalanced force to combat racism and health disparity. Lancet Haematol 2021; 8:e173-e174. [PMID: 33524323 DOI: 10.1016/s2352-3026(21)00027-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea C Pinnix
- Dr Chelsea C Pinnix Department of Radiation Oncology, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
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14
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Affiliation(s)
- Insa M Schmidt
- Section of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
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15
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Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has caused a breakdown in the healthcare system worldwide. The need to rapidly update guidelines in order to control the transmission in the population and for evidenced-based healthcare care has led to the need for timely, voluminous and valid research. Amid the quest for a vaccine and better therapies, researchers clamouring for information has led to a wide variety of ethical issues due to the unique situation. This paper aims to examine the positive and negative aspects of recent changes in the process of obtaining informed consent. The article outlines the various aspects, from history, previously described exemptions to consenting as well as those implemented during the pandemic and the current impact of virtual methods. Further, the authors make recommendations based on the outcome of suggested adjustments described in the literature. This article looks into increasing the awareness of physicians and researchers about ethical issues that need to be addressed to provide optimal care for patients while assuring their integrity and confidentiality.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Olena Zimba
- Department of Internal Medicine No. 2, Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, Ukraine
| | - Latika Gupta
- Department Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
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16
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Strong J. The Harms of a Penal Colony. Hastings Cent Rep 2020; 49:44-45. [PMID: 31429962 DOI: 10.1002/hast.1036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
More than just a jail, Rikers has become a site of shifting discourse on punishment and justice in the United States. In the book Life and Death in Rikers Island, Homer Venters argues that the systematic failures of jails to provide appropriate safety and care constitute human rights violations and public health risks. The former chief medical officer and commissioner of correctional health services for the NYC Health and Hospitals system, Venters offers critical insight on the Rikers jail system. "Because jails are chaotic and concealed from outside view," he asserts, "we only become aware of them when very bad outcomes occur, such as deaths." Life and Death's success lies in how it blends Venters's experiences on the ground as a health care professional with the empirical data he's been able to collect and analyze over the tenure of his career. According to Venters, all suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths in jail are jail attributable, as they reflect system-wide failures in safety.
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17
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Martin DE, Harris DCH, Jha V, Segantini L, Demme RA, Le TH, McCann L, Sands JM, Vong G, Wolpe PR, Fontana M, London GM, Vanderhaegen B, Vanholder R. Ethical challenges in nephrology: a call for action. Nat Rev Nephrol 2020; 16:603-613. [PMID: 32587403 DOI: 10.1038/s41581-020-0295-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The American Society of Nephrology, the European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association and the International Society of Nephrology Joint Working Group on Ethical Issues in Nephrology have identified ten broad areas of ethical concern as priority challenges that require collaborative action. Here, we describe these challenges - equity in access to kidney failure care, avoiding futile dialysis, reducing dialysis costs, shared decision-making in kidney failure care, living donor risk evaluation and decision-making, priority setting in kidney disease prevention and care, the ethical implications of genetic kidney diseases, responsible advocacy for kidney health and management of conflicts of interest - with the aim of highlighting the need for ethical analysis of specific issues, as well as for the development of tools and training to support clinicians who treat patients with kidney disease in practising ethically and contributing to ethical policy-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominique E Martin
- School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
| | - David C H Harris
- University of Sydney at Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW, Australia
| | - Vivekanand Jha
- George Institute for Global Health, UNSW, New Delhi, India
- University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
| | - Luca Segantini
- International Society of Nephrology, Brussels, Belgium
- European Society for Organ Transplantation - ESOT c/o ESOT, Padova, Italy
| | - Richard A Demme
- Renal Division and Department of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Thu H Le
- Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Laura McCann
- American Society of Nephrology, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Jeff M Sands
- Renal Division, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Gerard Vong
- Center for Ethics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | - Monica Fontana
- European Renal Association - European Dialysis and Transplant Association, Parma, Italy
| | - Gerard M London
- Manhes Hospital, Nephrology Department GEPIR, Fleury-Mérogis, France
| | | | - Raymond Vanholder
- Nephrology Section, Department of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, University Hospital, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, B9000, Gent, Belgium
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18
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Affiliation(s)
- Ichiro Kawachi
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
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19
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Affiliation(s)
- Eli Weber
- Kaiser Permanente San Bernardino County Area Medical Centers
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20
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Abstract
The pandemic creates unprecedented challenges to society and to health care systems around the world. Like all crises, these provide a unique opportunity to rethink the fundamental limiting assumptions and institutional inertia of our established systems. These inertial assumptions have obscured deeply rooted problems in health care and deflected attempts to address them. As hospitals begin to welcome all patients back, they should resist the temptation to go back to business as usual. Instead, they should retain the more deliberative, explicit, and transparent ways of thinking that have informed the development of crisis standards of care. The key lesson to be learned from those exercises in rational deliberation is that justice must be the ethical foundation of all standards of care. Justice demands that hospitals take a safety-net approach to providing services that prioritizes the most vulnerable segments of society, continue to expand telemedicine in ways that improve access without exacerbating disparities, invest in community-based care, and fully staff hospitals and clinics on nights and weekends.
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21
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Abstract
Contact tracing is a central public health response to infectious disease outbreaks, especially in the early stages of an outbreak when specific treatments are limited. Importation of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) from China and elsewhere into the United Kingdom highlights the need to understand the impact of contact tracing as a control measure. Using detailed survey information on social encounters coupled to predictive models, we investigate the likely efficacy of the current UK definition of a close contact (within 2 meters for 15 minutes or more) and the distribution of secondary cases that may go untraced. Taking recent estimates for COVID-19 transmission, we show that less than 1 in 5 cases will generate any subsequent untraced cases, although this comes at a high logistical burden with an average of 36.1 individuals (95th percentiles 0-182) traced per case. Changes to the definition of a close contact can reduce this burden, but with increased risk of untraced cases; we estimate that any definition where close contact requires more than 4 hours of contact is likely to lead to uncontrolled spread.
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22
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Abstract
In recent months, Covid-19 has devastated African American communities across the nation, and a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. The agents of death may be novel, but the phenomena of long-standing epidemics of premature black death and of police violence are not. This essay argues that racial health and health care disparities, rooted as they are in systemic injustice, ought to carry far more weight in clinical ethics than they generally do. In particular, this essay examines palliative and end-of-life care for African Americans, highlighting the ways in which American medicine, like American society, has breached trust. In the experience of many African American patients struggling against terminal illness, health care providers have denied them a say in their own medical decision-making. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, African Americans have once again been denied a say with regard to the rationing of scarce medical resources such as ventilators, in that dominant and ostensibly race-neutral algorithms sacrifice black lives. Is there such thing as a "good" or "dignified" death when African Americans are dying not merely of Covid-19 but of structural racism?
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23
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Barwise AK, Wilson ME, Sharp RR, DeMartino ES. Ethical Considerations About Clinician Reimbursement for Advance Care Planning. Mayo Clin Proc 2020; 95:653-657. [PMID: 32247339 PMCID: PMC7709876 DOI: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Revised: 11/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/16/2019] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amelia K Barwise
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
| | - Michael E Wilson
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
| | - Richard R Sharp
- Biomedical Ethics Research Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
| | - Erin S DeMartino
- Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
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Abstract
There is growing recognition that the genomic and precision medicine revolution in health care can deepen health disparities. This has produced urgent calls to prioritize inclusion of historically underrepresented populations in research and to make genomic databases more inclusive. Answering the call to address health care disparities in the delivery of genomic and precision medicine requires a consideration of important, yet understudied, legal issues that have blocked progress. This article introduces a special issue of Ethnicity & Disease which contains a series of articles that grew out of a public conference to investigate these legal issues and propose solutions. This 2018 conference at Meharry Medical College was part of an NIH-funded project on "LawSeqSM" to evaluate and improve the law of genomics in order to support appropriate integration of genomics into clinical care. This conference was composed of presentations and interactive sessions designed to specify the top legal barriers to health equity in precision medicine and stimulate potential solutions. This article synthesizes the results of those discussions. Multiple legal barriers limit broad inclusion in genomic research and the development of precision medicine to advance health equity. Problems include inadequate privacy and anti-discrimination protections for research participants, lack of health coverage and funding for follow-up care, failure to use law to ensure access to genomic medicine, and practices by research sponsors that tolerate and entrench disparities. Analysis of the legal barriers to health equity in precision medicine is essential for progress. Progressive use of law is vital to avoid worsening of health care disparities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susan M. Wolf
- Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment & the Life Sciences; Law School; Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
| | - Vence L. Bonham
- Social and Behavioral Research Branch, Division of Intramural Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
| | - Marino A. Bruce
- Program for Research on Faith and Health, Vanderbilt Center for Research on Men’s Health, Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
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Färdow J, Broström L, Johansson M. Co-payment for Unfunded Additional Care in Publicly Funded Healthcare Systems: Ethical Issues. J Bioeth Inq 2019; 16:515-524. [PMID: 31236758 PMCID: PMC6937223 DOI: 10.1007/s11673-019-09924-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2018] [Accepted: 06/14/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The burdens of resource constraints in publicly funded healthcare systems urge decision makers in countries like Sweden, Norway and the UK to find new financial solutions. One proposal that has been put forward is co-payment-a financial model where some treatment or care is made available to patients who are willing and able to pay the costs that exceed the available alternatives fully covered by public means. Co-payment of this sort has been associated with various ethical concerns. These range from worries that it has a negative impact on patients' wellbeing and on health care institutions, to fears that co-payment is in conflict with core values of publicly funded health care systems. This article provides an overview of the main ethical issues associated with co-payment, and ethical arguments both in support of and against it will be presented and analyzed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joakim Färdow
- Medical ethics, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund university, 221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Linus Broström
- Medical ethics, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund university, 221 84 Lund, Sweden
| | - Mats Johansson
- Medical ethics, Department of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund university, 221 84 Lund, Sweden
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Milliken A, Jurchak M, Sadovnikoff N. When Societal Structural Issues Become Patient Problems: The Role of Clinical Ethics Consultation. Hastings Cent Rep 2019; 48:7-9. [PMID: 30311206 DOI: 10.1002/hast.894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The debate about health insurance coverage and the related issue of unequal access to health care turn on fundamental questions of justice, but for an individual patient like DM, the abstract question about who is deserving of health insurance becomes a very concrete problem that has a profound impact on care and livelihood. DM's circumstances left him stuck in the hospital. A satisfactory discharge plan remained elusive; his insurance coverage severely limited the number and type of facilities that would accept him; and his inadequate engagement in his own rehabilitation process limited discharge options even further. Despite extensive involvement with the psychiatry, social work, physical therapy, and occupational therapy teams, DM consistently made "bad" decisions. He repeatedly refused antibiotics and did not consistently work with rehab services to improve his strength and mobility. Although the clinicians wanted to provide him with the best care possible, he often seemed unwilling to do the things necessary to achieve this care-or perhaps his depression rendered him unable to do so. He also tended to take out his frustration on staff members caring for him. All of this was, in turn, very frustrating for the staff. It may be easy, however, to make too much of DM's role, to see his choices as more important than his circumstances. A major goal of the ethics consultants was to reframe DM's predicament for the staff members involved in his care.
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MacKay D, Fitz S. Geographic Location and Moral Arbitrariness in the Allocation of Donated Livers. J Law Med Ethics 2019; 47:308-319. [PMID: 31298097 DOI: 10.1177/1073110519857287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The federal system for allocating donated livers in the United States is often criticized for allowing geographic disparities in access to livers. Critics argue that such disparities are unfair on the grounds that where one lives is morally arbitrary and so should not influence one's access to donated livers. They argue instead that livers should be allocated in accordance with the equal opportunity principle, according to which US residents who are equally sick should have the same opportunity to receive a liver, regardless of where they live. In this paper, we examine a central premise of the argument for the equal opportunity principle, namely, that geographic location is a morally arbitrary basis for allocating livers. We raise some serious doubts regarding the truth of this premise, arguing that under certain conditions, factors closely associated with geographic location are relevant to the allocation of livers, and so that candidates' geographic location is sometimes a morally non-arbitrary basis for allocating livers. Geographic location is morally non-arbitrary, we suggest, since by taking it into account, the UNOS may better fulfill its central goals of facilitating the effective and efficient placement of organs for transplantation and increasing organ donation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas MacKay
- Douglas MacKay, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a Core Faculty Member of the UNC Center for Bioethics and the UNC Philosophy, Politics, & Economics Program. He is currently working on projects concerning the ethics of public policy research, the ethics of immigration policy, and the ethics of welfare policy. Samuel Fitz currently works in New York City as a research analyst for Benenson Strategy Group. He recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Honors College with a degree in Public Policy and Economics
| | - Samuel Fitz
- Douglas MacKay, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a Core Faculty Member of the UNC Center for Bioethics and the UNC Philosophy, Politics, & Economics Program. He is currently working on projects concerning the ethics of public policy research, the ethics of immigration policy, and the ethics of welfare policy. Samuel Fitz currently works in New York City as a research analyst for Benenson Strategy Group. He recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Honors College with a degree in Public Policy and Economics
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29
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Abstract
Because the United States has failed to provide a pathway to citizenship for its long-term undocumented population, clinical ethicists have more than 20 years of addressing issues that arise in caring for this population. I illustrate that these challenges fall into two sets of issues. First-generation issues involve finding ethical ways to treat and discharge patients who are uninsured and ineligible for safety-net resources. More recently, ethicists have been invited to help address second-generation issues that involve facilitating the presentation for care of undocumented patients. In the current environment of widespread fear of deportation in the immigrant community, ethicists are working with health care providers to address patient concerns that prevent them from seeking care. I illustrate that in both generations of issues, values implicit within health care, namely, caring, efficiency, and promotion of public health, guide the strategies that are acceptable and recommended.
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Gustavsson E. Patients with multiple needs for healthcare and priority to the worse off. Bioethics 2019; 33:261-266. [PMID: 30480809 DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Revised: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 08/25/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
There is a growing body of literature which suggests that decisions about healthcare priority setting should take into account the extent to which patients are worse off. However, such decisions are often based on how badly off patients are with respect to the condition targeted by the treatment whose priority is under consideration (condition-specific severity). In this paper I argue that giving priority to the worse off in terms of condition-specific severity does not reflect the morally relevant sense of being worse off. I conclude that an account of giving priority to the worse off relevant for healthcare priority setting should take into account how badly off patients are when all of their conditions are considered (holistic severity).
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Gustavsson
- Division of Health Care Analysis, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping university, Linköping, Sweden
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Abstract
The phenomenon of medical overtesting in general, and specifically in the emergency room, is well known and regarded as harmful to both the patient and the healthcare system. Although the implications of this problem raise myriad ethical concerns, this paper explores the extent to which overtesting might mitigate race-based health inequalities. Given that medical malpractice and error greatly increase when the patients belong to a racial minority, it is no surprise that the mortality rate similarly increases in proportion to white patients. For these populations, an environment that emphasizes medical overtesting may well be the desirable medical environment until care evens out among races and ethnicities; additionally, efforts to lower overtesting in conjunction with a high rate of racist medical mythology may cause harm by lowering testing when it is actually warranted. Furthermore, medical overtesting may help to assuage racial distrust. This paper ultimately concludes that an environment of medical overtesting may be less pernicious than the alternative.
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Black L. Addressing the Cancer Burden Through Equal Distribution of Clinical Trial Opportunities to Rural Settings. Narrat Inq Bioeth 2019; 9:E5-E7. [PMID: 31447433 DOI: 10.1353/nib.2019.0032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
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Wester G, Bærøe K, Norheim OF. Towards theoretically robust evidence on health equity: a systematic approach to contextualising equity-relevant randomised controlled trials. J Med Ethics 2019; 45:54-59. [PMID: 30072485 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2017-104610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2017] [Revised: 06/16/2018] [Accepted: 07/06/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Reducing inequalities in health and the determinants of health is a widely acknowledged health policy goal, and methods for measuring inequalities and inequities in health are well developed. Yet, the evidence base is weak for how to achieve these goals. There is a lack of high-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) reporting impact on the distribution of health and non-health benefits and lack of methodological rigour in how to design, power, measure, analyse and interpret distributional impact in RCTs. Our overarching aim in this paper is to contribute to the emerging effort to improve transparency and coherence in the theoretical and conceptual basis for RCTs on effective interventions to reduce health inequity. We endeavour to achieve this aim by pursuing two more specific objectives. First, we propose an overview of three broader health equity frameworks and clarify their implications for the measurement of health inequality in RCTs. Second, we seek to clarify the relationship between theory and translational challenges that researchers would need to attend to, in order to ensure that equity-relevant RCTs are coherently grounded in theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gry Wester
- Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Kristine Bærøe
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Ole Frithjof Norheim
- Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Centre for Intervention Science in Maternal and Child Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
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Abstract
Disparities in access to infertility care and insurance coverage of infertility treatment represent marked injustices in US health care. The World Health Organization defines infertility as a disease. Infertility has multiple associated billing codes in use, as determined by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. However, the often-prohibitive costs associated with infertility treatment, coupled with the lack of universal insurance coverage mandates, contribute to health care inequity, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris G Insogna
- A reproductive endocrinology and infertility fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Elizabeth S Ginsburg
- A professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and the medical director of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts; and a member of the ethics committee of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine
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Friesen P, Blease C. Placebo effects and racial and ethnic health disparities: an unjust and underexplored connection. J Med Ethics 2018; 44:774-781. [PMID: 29936435 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2018-104811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2018] [Revised: 05/07/2018] [Accepted: 05/17/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
While a significant body of bioethical literature considers how the placebo effect might introduce a conflict between autonomy and beneficence, the link between justice and the placebo effect has been neglected. Here, we bring together disparate evidence from the field of placebo studies and research on health inequalities related to race and ethnicity, and argue that, collectively, this evidence may provide the basis for an unacknowledged route by which health disparities are exacerbated. This route is constituted by an uneven distribution of placebo effects, resulting from differences in expressions of physician warmth and empathy, as well as support and patient engagement, across racial and ethnic lines. In a discussion of the ethical implications of this connection, we argue that this contribution to health disparities is a source of injustice, consider ways in which these disparities might be ameliorated and suggest that this conclusion is likely to extend to other realms of inequality as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phoebe Friesen
- Philosophy Department, CUNY Graduate Center, New York City, New York, USA
- Ethox Centre, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Charlotte Blease
- Program in Placebo Studies, General Medicine and Primary Care, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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Check DK, Albers KB, Uppal KM, Suga JM, Adams AS, Habel LA, Quesenberry CP, Sakoda LC. Examining the role of access to care: Racial/ethnic differences in receipt of resection for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer among integrated system members and non-members. Lung Cancer 2018; 125:51-56. [PMID: 30429038 PMCID: PMC6242353 DOI: 10.1016/j.lungcan.2018.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2018] [Revised: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 09/09/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To examine the role of uniform access to care in reducing racial/ethnic disparities in receipt of resection for early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by comparing integrated health system member patients to demographically similar non-member patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS Using data from the California Cancer Registry, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients from four racial/ethnic groups (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander), aged 21-80, with a first primary diagnosis of stage I or II NSCLC between 2004 and 2011, in counties served by Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) at diagnosis. Our cohort included 1565 KPNC member and 4221 non-member patients. To examine the relationship between race/ethnicity and receipt of surgery stratified by KPNC membership, we used modified Poisson regression to calculate risk ratios (RR) adjusted for patient demographic and tumor characteristics. RESULTS Black patients were least likely to receive surgery regardless of access to integrated care (64-65% in both groups). The magnitude of the black-white difference in the likelihood of surgery receipt was similar for members (RR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73-0.93) and non-members (RR: 0.86, 95% CI: 0.80-0.94). Among members, roughly equal proportions of Hispanic and White patients received surgery; however, among non-members, Hispanic patients were less likely to receive surgery (non-members, RR: 0.93, 95% CI: 0.86-1.00; members, RR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.89-1.08). CONCLUSION Disparities in surgical treatment for NSCLC were not reduced through integrated health system membership, suggesting that factors other than access to care (e.g., patient-provider communication) may underlie disparities. Future research should focus on identifying such modifiable factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Devon K Check
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
| | - Kathleen B Albers
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
| | - Kanti M Uppal
- Vacaville Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 1 Quality Drive, Vacaville, CA, 95688, USA.
| | - Jennifer Marie Suga
- Vallejo Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 975 Sereno Drive, Vallejo, CA, 94589, USA.
| | - Alyce S Adams
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
| | - Laurel A Habel
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
| | - Charles P Quesenberry
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
| | - Lori C Sakoda
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA.
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Ismail N, de Viggiani N. How do policymakers interpret and implement the principle of equivalence with regard to prison health? A qualitative study among key policymakers in England. J Med Ethics 2018; 44:746-750. [PMID: 30002142 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2017-104692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Revised: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/22/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The principle of equivalence in prison health has been established for nearly four decades. It seeks to ensure that prisoners have access to the same level of healthcare as members of society at large, which is entrenched within the international legal framework and England's national health policies. AIMS This study examined how key policymakers interpret and implement the principle of equivalence in English prisons. It also identified opportunities and threats associated with the application of the principle. METHODS In total, 30 policymakers took part in this research. These participants engaged in policymaking activities and occupied positions of authority in the prison field. RESULTS Despite the policymakers' consensus on the importance of the equivalence principle, there was a varying degree of understanding regarding what constitutes 'equivalence'. Participants described how the security culture impedes prisoners' access to healthcare services. Additionally, the increasing size and complexity of the prison population, coupled with a diminishing level of resources, reduce the level of care being provided in prisons and thus compromise implementation of equivalence in English prisons. CONCLUSIONS Inconsistent interpretation of equivalence, the prevailing security drive, increasing numbers and health complexities of prisoners and fiscal austerity threaten the implementation of equivalence in English prisons. This research calls for new guidance on how to interpret and implement equivalence, along with measures to educate prison governors and staff on the prison rehabilitation value, ensure greater investment in prison health and consider alternatives to imprisonment to future-proof the principle of equivalence in the English prison system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nasrul Ismail
- Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
| | - Nick de Viggiani
- Centre for Public Health and Wellbeing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
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Pak-Gorstein S, Batra M, Johnston B, Grow HM, Grant A, Shugerman R, Lago S, Stapleton FB, McPhillips H. Training Pediatricians to Address Health Disparities: An Innovative Residency Track Combining Global Health With Community Pediatrics and Advocacy. Acad Med 2018; 93:1315-1320. [PMID: 29847326 DOI: 10.1097/acm.0000000000002304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PROBLEM Pediatric residency programs have been tasked to train a workforce of pediatricians with skills in community pediatrics (CP) and advocacy, and knowledge of global child health priorities. APPROACH In 2009, the University of Washington (UW) Seattle Children's Hospital pediatric residency program developed the Resident Education in Advocacy and Child Health (REACH) program, a combined pathway for global health (GH) and CP training. After participating in a combined curriculum, residents complete a community immersion either in Kisii, Kenya (GH) or rural Washington (CP). This approach provides an efficient use of faculty and administrative resources and delivers a sustainable and ethical strategy for inspiring pediatric residents to address child health problems at a systems level. OUTCOMES Between 2009 and 2013, the percentage of graduating residents from the UW pediatric residency program who rated GH training as "outstanding/excellent/good" increased from 58.4% to 100%, and the percentage rating community and population health training as "outstanding/excellent/good" increased from 56% to 88.8%. Annual applicant surveys in the period 2011-2014 revealed that the REACH program led a significant percentage of candidates to rank the UW pediatric residency more favorably because of its GH (37%-48%) and CP (55%-74%) training. NEXT STEPS A mixed-methods assessment will evaluate the impact on resident confidence in core areas of community health and advocacy including collaborating with community groups, setting professional career goals, addressing underlying determinants of health during patient encounters, communicating in cross-cultural settings, and advocating for child health. A survey will assess outcomes on graduates' careers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzinne Pak-Gorstein
- S. Pak-Gorstein is associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6194-895X. M. Batra is professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0421-4332. B. Johnston is professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6980-8775. H.M. Grow is associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1667-2317. A. Grant is associate professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7827-2239. R. Shugerman is professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8542-2031. S. Lago is program coordinator, Resident Education in Advocacy and Child Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. F.B. Stapleton is chair and professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. H. McPhillips is professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7126-3380
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Peled Y. Language barriers and epistemic injustice in healthcare settings. Bioethics 2018; 32:360-367. [PMID: 29741210 DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2016] [Revised: 11/09/2017] [Accepted: 12/12/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Contemporary realities of global population movement increasingly bring to the fore the challenge of quality and equitable health provision across language barriers. While this linguistic challenge is not unique to immigration contexts and is likewise shared by health systems responding to the needs of aboriginal peoples and other historical linguistic minorities, the expanding multilingual landscape of receiving societies renders this challenge even more critical, owing to limited or even non-existing familiarity of modern and often monolingual health systems with the particular needs of new linguistic minorities. The centrality of language to health beliefs, attitudes, practices, cultural scripts, and conceptual frameworks emphasizes its pivotal role in the healthcare process, and consequently in the adverse effects of treatment that is language-insensitive and unaware. Such an attitude on the part of medical authorities risks considerable epistemic injustice in the form of a (mis)judgement of patients' intelligence, credibility, and rationality based on the language that they speak and the manner in which they speak it, consequently impacting the quality and equity of care provided. This danger, I argue, may be effectively countered by fostering among the participants in the healthcare process a sense of epistemic humility through greater metalinguistic awareness. Outlining a range of operative steps that can be used to facilitate this. I argue that the reality of language barriers in the healthcare process, while not entirely eliminable, may nevertheless be successfully addressed, in order to mitigate the challenge of quality and equitable healthcare provision in multilingual societies.
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Gottlieb N, Ben Mocha Y. Discussing rights and wrongs: Three suggestions for moving forward with the migrant health rights debate. Bioethics 2018; 32:353-359. [PMID: 30133834 DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2016] [Revised: 02/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Claims for improving migrants' access to care often draw on universalistic ethical notions, such as the principle of equity as it is specified in human rights law and public health ethics. These claims contrast with political realities across most welfare states. In the underlying public discourses, the frontline arguments against greater inclusion have often focused on practical concerns, such as the costs of healthcare provision. Yet it has also been suggested that ultimately context-specific moral frameworks play a key role in demarcating legitimate right-holders from undeserving others. Hence, is this a conflict between ethical principles and practical concerns? Or between different ethical perspectives? And why would that question matter? We propose that awareness of the nature of the arguments involved and respect for different ethical views are critical for coherent and constructive debates. This paper looks at the ways in which ethical concepts are used to justify exclusionary policy decisions. In particular, it examines the rationales that inform health policies towards documented and undocumented labor migrants in two welfare states, Germany and Israel, through the qualitative analysis of policy documents and 71 in-depth interviews. The study points to the central role of particular concepts of health-related deservingness. These results lead to the proposition that the fundamental clash in the discussion on migrants' access to care is one, albeit not solely, between contrasting ethical perspectives. Drawing on process-oriented approaches to ethical decision-making, the paper concludes with three suggestions for moving forward with the migrant health rights debate.
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Dominicé Dao M. Vulnerability in the clinic: case study of a transcultural consultation. J Med Ethics 2018; 44:167-170. [PMID: 27343284 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2015-103337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2015] [Revised: 04/19/2016] [Accepted: 06/07/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Discrimination and inequalities in healthcare can be experienced by many patients due to many characteristics ranging from the obviously visible to the more subtly noticeable, such as race and ethnicity, legal status, social class, linguistic fluency, health literacy, age, gender and weight. Discrimination can take a number of forms including overt racist statement, stereotyping or explicit and implicit attitudes and biases. This paper presents the case study of a complex transcultural clinical encounter between the mother of a young infant in a highly vulnerable social situation and a hospital healthcare team. In this clinical setting, both parties experienced difficulties, generating explicit and implicit negative attitudes that heightened into reciprocal mistrust, conflict and distress. The different factors influencing their conscious and unconscious biases will be analysed and discussed to offer understanding of the complicated nature of human interactions when faced with vulnerability in clinical practice. This case vignette also illustrates how, even in institutions with long-standing experience and many internal resources to address diversity and vulnerability, cultural competence remains a constant challenge.
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Rakatansky H. The persistence of racially-based health care inequities. R I Med J (2013) 2017; 100:11-12. [PMID: 29088567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
[Full article available at http://rimed.org/rimedicaljournal-2017-11.asp].
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Affiliation(s)
- Herbert Rakatansky
- Clinical Professor of Medicine Emeritus,The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
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Gibert SH, DeGrazia D, Danis M. Ethics of patient activation: exploring its relation to personal responsibility, autonomy and health disparities. J Med Ethics 2017; 43:670-675. [PMID: 28774956 DOI: 10.1136/medethics-2017-104260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2017] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Discussions of patient-centred care and patient autonomy in bioethics have tended to focus on the decision-making context and the process of obtaining informed consent, leaving open the question of how patients ought to be counselled in the daily maintenance of their health and management of chronic disease. Patient activation is an increasingly prominent counselling approach and measurement tool that aims to improve patients' confidence and skills in managing their own health conditions. The strategy, which has received little conceptual or ethical analysis, raises important questions about how clinicians ought to foster confidence and a sense of control in their patients without exposing them to blame, stigma and other harms. In this paper, we describe patient activation, discuss its relationship to personal responsibility, autonomy and health disparities, and make recommendations regarding its use and measurement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia H Gibert
- Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - David DeGrazia
- Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Marion Danis
- Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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44
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus G Seidel
- Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Medical University Graz, Austria
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45
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Breimer L. [The Swedish Association for Obstetrics and Gynecology's national guidelines for NIPT are unethical]. Lakartidningen 2017; 114:EP64. [PMID: 28675409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
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McCarthy M. People in US are less concerned about health inequality than those in other countries. BMJ 2017; 357:j2924. [PMID: 28619844 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j2924] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Ramke J, Gilbert CE, Lee AC, Ackland P, Limburg H, Foster A. Effective cataract surgical coverage: An indicator for measuring quality-of-care in the context of Universal Health Coverage. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0172342. [PMID: 28249047 PMCID: PMC5382971 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To define and demonstrate effective cataract surgical coverage (eCSC), a candidate UHC indicator that combines a coverage measure (cataract surgical coverage, CSC) with quality (post-operative visual outcome). METHODS All Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) surveys with datasets on the online RAAB Repository on April 1 2016 were downloaded. The most recent study from each country was included. By country, cataract surgical outcome (CSOGood, 6/18 or better; CSOPoor, worse than 6/60), CSC (operated cataract as a proportion of operable plus operated cataract) and eCSC (operated cataract and a good outcome as a proportion of operable plus operated cataract) were calculated. The association between CSC and CSO was assessed by linear regression. Gender inequality in CSC and eCSC was calculated. FINDINGS Datasets from 20 countries were included (2005-2013; 67,337 participants; 5,474 cataract surgeries). Median CSC was 53.7% (inter-quartile range[IQR] 46.1-66.6%), CSOGood was 58.9% (IQR 53.7-67.6%) and CSOPoor was 17.7% (IQR 11.3-21.1%). Coverage and quality of cataract surgery were moderately associated-every 1% CSC increase was associated with a 0.46% CSOGood increase and 0.28% CSOPoor decrease. Median eCSC was 36.7% (IQR 30.2-50.6%), approximately one-third lower than the median CSC. Women tended to fare worse than men, and gender inequality was slightly higher for eCSC (4.6% IQR 0.5-7.1%) than for CSC (median 2.3% IQR -1.5-11.6%). CONCLUSION eCSC allows monitoring of quality in conjunction with coverage of cataract surgery. In the surveys analysed, on average 36.7% of people who could benefit from cataract surgery had undergone surgery and obtained a good visual outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Ramke
- School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Clare E. Gilbert
- Department Clinical Research, Faculty Infectious & Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Arier C. Lee
- School of Population Health, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Peter Ackland
- International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hans Limburg
- Health Information Services, Nijenburg 32, Grootebroek, Netherlands
| | - Allen Foster
- Department Clinical Research, Faculty Infectious & Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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Abstract
Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) are among the most vulnerable populations. They experience high rates of medical errors with worse clinical outcomes than English-proficient patients and receive lower quality of care by other metrics. However, we have yet to take the issue of linguistic inequities seriously in the medical system and in medical education, tacitly accepting that substandard care is either unavoidable or not worth the cost to address. We argue that we have a moral imperative to provide high-quality care to patients with LEP and to teach our medical trainees that such care is both expected and feasible. Ultimately, to achieve linguistic equity will require creating effective systems for medical interpretation and a major culture shift not unlike what has happened in patient safety.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chijioke Nze
- Chijioke Nze is an MD/MPH candidate class of 2017 at Harvard Medical School in Boston
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Abstract
Inequalities in society are reflected in patterns of disease and access to health care, where the disadvantaged suffer most. Traditionally, doctors have kept politics out of their work, even though politics often shape medicine. What political responsibilities, then, should doctors have as they facilitate the learning of medical students? The article in this issue by Kumagai, Jackson, and Razack goes straight to the heart of this question. These authors ask whether educators should be wary of "cutting close to the bone" in discussing issues that may restimulate trauma in some medical students.Kumagai and colleagues suggest that it is actually the ethical responsibility of educators to introduce students to discomfort as a means of raising students' critical consciousness or their ability to sensitively gauge the positions of others and to engage in dialogue to address issues such as inequality and inequity so that previously silent and silenced voices can be heard. The author of this Commentary expands on this argument, further supporting the need to democratize medical culture and politicize doctors. Educators, as expert facilitators of this new critical consciousness raising, must create safe spaces for students to work through issues to avoid educational iatrogenesis. Such an approach to medical education is an extension of the traditional art of medicine, at the core of which are patient care and tolerance. Ethics, aesthetics, and politics can come together in such a reflexive medicine curriculum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Bleakley
- A. Bleakley is emeritus professor of medical education and medical humanities, Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
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50
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Abstract
In 2013, physician-researchers announced that a baby in Mississippi had been 'functionally cured' of HIV [Persaud, D., Gay, H., Ziemniak, C. F., Chen, Y. H., Piatak, M., Chun, T.-W., … Luzuriaga, K. (2013b, March). Functional HIV cure after very early ART of an infected infant. Paper presented at the 20th conference on retroviruses and opportunistic infections, Atlanta, GA]. Though the child later developed a detectable viral load, the case remains unprecedented, and trials to build on the findings are planned [National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (2014). 'Mississippi baby' now has detectable HIV, researchers find. Retrieved from http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2014/pages/mississippibabyhiv.aspx ]. Whether addressing HIV 'cure' or 'remission', scrutiny of this case has focused largely on scientific questions, with only introductory attention to ethics. The social inequalities and gaps in care that made the discovery possible - and their ethical implications for paediatric HIV remission - have gone largely unexamined. This paper describes structural inequalities surrounding the 'Mississippi baby' case and a parallel case in South Africa, where proof-of-concept studies are in the early stages. We argue that an ethical programme of research into infant HIV remission ought to be 'structurally competent', and recommend that paediatric remission studies consider including a research component focused on social protection and barriers to care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna T Crane
- a Department of Anthropology, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences , University of Washington-Bothell , Bothell , WA , USA
| | - Theresa M Rossouw
- b Department of Immunology, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Medicine , University of Pretoria , Pretoria , South Africa
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