Here are a few updates and extensions to earlier posts on blog.bioethics.net:

Surgery is not photojournalism
The story of the Mayo Clinic resident who snapped a cellphone picture of a patient’s penis tattoo has ended just about the way you would expect: strangely. Mayo announced late last week that the doctor is no longer practicing at the Phoenix hospital, though it won’t say whether he was fired or he resigned. Apparently the search is now on to find out who leaked the details of the story — including the patient’s name — to the Arizona Republic. The investigation has led to calls that the hospital has committed its own ethical violations while hunting for the leaker, though the nature of those violations are unclear.

Giving the gift of health care
It seems the “Health Care Visa Gift Card” is not just a speck of dystopian fiction made real, it’s also part of a trend. Marketplace reports that gift cards for food and other everyday needs are becoming more popular as people lean toward giving more practical gifts.

-Greg Dahlmann