A healthcare system can perform well without always caring, well. Safety, quality, efficiency, and productivity are legitimate goals of healthcare. But achieving them does not necessarily mean that good care has occurred. Consider a hypothetical patient in an intensive care unit whose health is improving and who has met the hospital’s criteria for transfer to […]
When the doctor’s note from my daughter’s wellness visit to the hospital was posted on our patient portal, I discovered that the doctor’s AI notetaker had erroneously entered ‘alcohol’ as the ointment applied to a dry skin patch on my daughter’s face, when in fact, my response to the doctor’s question of what I applied […]
Bioethicists have become very good at arguing for transparency. We encourage institutions to disclose conflicts of interest, explain difficult decisions, communicate uncertainty, and justify ethical trade-offs. These are all necessary, even essential — yet they are not enough. Transparency helps explain decisions. It does not, by itself, create the relationships required for public trust. Bioethics […]
A dementia directive — sometimes called an advance directive or living will — is a document in which a person, while still mentally capable, writes down their wishes for medical care if they can no longer communicate them. Think of it as a letter to the future: this is who I am, this is what […]
