Tag / autonomy
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Ask a Bioethicist: One case. Three bioethicists analyze.
Ask a Bioethicist: One case, three bioethicists analyze. The clinical ethics case: a Jehovah’s Witness patient’s blood transfusion refusal versus her family’s consent. Read how autonomy and beneficence collide. The July 2026 Ethics Dispatch is the first quarterly special edition called Ask a Bioethicist. The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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![A graphic stating the Ethics Dispatch is like an ethics committee meeting in a box. With four topic sections: monthly hot topic, new clinical ethics case study, current bioethics news stories and ethical musing essay.]()
The Most Important Ethical Challenge of Our Time: Remaining in Conversation
The June 2026 Ethics Dispatch explores patient autonomy, transgender health policy, medical decision-making, and the ethical role of empathy in clinical practice — with a real-world ethics case study. The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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Communicating Health Barriers and Solutions to Decision Paralysis and Confirmation Bias
Decision paralysis and confirmation bias can present major barriers to effective communication in healthcare. Odessa Sawyer, MSW, Program Coordinator at the Center, describes how these barriers work and how partnerships with community organizations can alleviate many of these barriers. The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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![A graphic stating the Ethics Dispatch is like an ethics committee meeting in a box. With four topic sections: monthly hot topic, new clinical ethics case study, current bioethics news stories and ethical musing essay.]()
Policy Volatility, Abortion Access, and the Erosion of Trust in Healthcare
A federal appeals court recently restricted access to the most commonly used medication abortion drug – Mifepristone — via mail before the Supreme Court temporarily restored broader access while it considers the case, leaving the ultimate outcome uncertain and leaving the public unsure and anxious. We explores the many ways instability in access to the drug creates avoidable harms and, ultimately, erodes public trust in healthcare. The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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January 2026 Bioethics Bulletin E-Newsletter
Read the January 28, 2025 Bioethics Bulletin. Topics include: Empowering Medical Trainees to Confront the Misinformation Epidemic, Ethics Services Strengthens Decisions, Hospital Teams and Patient Outcomes, When Vaccination Status Leads to Conflict, and an interesting Case Study: At what point do the best interests of the patient, and thus the principle of beneficence, overcome the patient’s right to autonomy? The Center for Practical Bioethics.
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Bioethics Case Study – When a Parent Overrules Their Child’s Best Interests
When parents overrule their child’s best interest is the topic of this Bioethics case study in VIDEO and PRINT. Patient self-determination and personal autonomy are central components of ethically appropriate care. Published by the Center for Practical Bioethics.
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Case Study – Moral Culpability for Respecting Patients’ Autonomy
This patient has a long history of IV drug abuse but communicates to the health team that his recent hospitalization has brought some clarity in that regard, and he vows to “give up doing drugs.”
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Case Study – Decisional Capacity of the Patient’s Surrogate
With an adult daughter saying “No” to a trach and PEG and a DPOA spouse of questionable capacity what should the medical team do?
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Ethics Dispatch April 2024
This month our Ethics Dispatch discusses the hot topic of Autonomy in the Absence of Decisional Capacity. Other sections include Bioethics In the News, a Case Study and Ethical Musing.
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Ethics Dispatch February 2024
This month our Ethics Dispatch discusses the hot topic of Autonomy in the Absence of Decisional Capacity. Other sections include Bioethics In the News, a Case Study and Ethical Musing.
