Ethics in health care and medical technologies

In this paper a case is used to demonstrate how ethical analysis enables health care professionals, patients and family members to make treatment decisions which ensure that medical technologies are used in the overall best interests of the patient. The claim is made and defended that ethical analysis can secure four beneficial outcomes when medical technologies are employed: (1) not allowing any medical technologies to be employed until the appropriate decision makers are identified and consulted; (2) insisting that medical technologies be employed not merely to promote the medical interests of the patient but rather on the basis of their ability to contribute to the overall well-being of the patient; (3) challenging caregivers to reflect on the dynamic interplay between their conscious and unconscious values and consequent determinations of what is in the patient's best interests; and (4) providing a justification for selected interventions which makes possible rational dialogue between caregivers espousing different viewpoints about treatment options.     

Physicians,entrepreneurism and the problem of conflict of interest

This paper examines the ethical issues of conflict of interest raised by the burgeoning development of physician involvement in for-profit entrepreneurial activities outside their practice. After documenting the nature and extent of these activities, and their potential for conflicts of interest, the paper assesses the major arguments for and against physicians' referral of patients to facilities they own or in which they invest. The paper concludes that an outright ban on such activity seems ethically warranted.     

Medical hermeneutics: Where is the “text” we are interpreting?

The present paper is a commentary on an article by Drew Leder [1]. Leder identifies a series of texts in the clinical encounter, emphasizes the central role of interpretation in making sense of each of these texts, and articulates ordering principles to guide the interpretive work.The metaphor of clinical work as textual explication, however, creates the expectation that there is a text somewhere to be found. Such an expectation invites doctors and patients to search for the text and runs the risk of conceptualizing patients as more static than they are. If one is to use the textual metaphor, one must appreciate the radical extent to which the clinical encounter is a mutually produced and shifting entity. The qualities of mutuality and indeterminacy are not those one usually associates with texts. One might ultimately be better served by a different metaphor based more directly on uncertainty.     

Praxis makes perfect: Illness as a bridge between biological concepts of disease and social conceptions of health

Analyses of biological concepts of disease and social conceptions of health indicate that they are structurally interdependent. This in turn suggests the need for a bridge theory of illness. The main features of such a theory are an emphasis on the logical properties of value terms, close attention to the features of the experience of illness, and an analysis of this experience as action failure, drawing directly on the internal structure of action. The practical applications of this theory are outlined for a number of problems in each of the three main practical areas, clinical work, teaching and research. In each case the resources of the theory suggest new models and generate new results. The full practical significance of the theory, however, is shown to consist in the way in which it ties together biological and social theories into an integrated picture of the conceptual structure of medicine as a whole. It is argued, finally, that practical efficiency of this kind is a test of theory not only in the philosophy of medicine but also in general philosophy.     

Medical education: The training of ethical physicians

This paper suggests that medical education be revised to assist in diffusing potential ethical dilemmas that arise during health care provision. A revised medical education would emphasize the role of the humanities in the training of physicians, especially in light of recent critiques of the canonical scientific model in general, and more specifically in the use of that model for medical training and practice.I wish to thank Dr. Mary Ann Cutter and Melissa M. Amaro for their critical suggestions.     

The Future of Neuropsychology in Medical Specialties

Although neuropsychology continues to grow as a valued service in most medical specialties, because of its multiple uses with diverse populations, it is necessary to evaluate the specialty critically in order to ensure continued future success. This article reviews areas in which neuropsychology is most firmly established, potential growth areas, and likely obstacles to success in the future. Suggestions are provided for ways in which neuropsychology can be improved/adapted in clinical, business, research, and training areas. On sabattical at Bebek University, Instanbul, Turkey     

Building and Maintaining Clinical Programs

This paper describes the basic elements of practice development and management within the academic medical setting. These include assessment of the market environment, both in the community and within the medical setting, product development, marketing, budget basics, quality, managed care negotiations, and finding time to do research in a financially-driven health care system.     

医学伦理学概念之探究

医学伦理学的概念看起来很简单,一般情况下人们便习以为常地接受了作为应用规范伦理学的一个分支的科学地位,而忽视了医学对医学伦理学所起的作用。本文认为：医学伦理学的具体内容是医学科技与伦理道德两因素相互作用的产物,对其相互作用的形式和产物的具体分析和总结便可构成这门学科的理论体系。     

Aging families: The personal, permanent group

Later life families present a very special instance of group psychotherapy with older adults. This paper describes the challenges faced by later life families, including major life events to which multiple family members must adapt, and the increasing dependency of some elderly members. A developmental framework for later life problems is offered as a therapy frame useful to families. Key aspects of therapy process with later life families are also presented. Goals, strategies, structures of therapy, and the therapist’s role are all shaped by the long and intimate history of the members of this special form of group.