NSHEN has developed this educational resource called Featured Article Summary. We will be choosing articles from recent health ethics literature that we think will be of interest to ethics committee members as well as others working in our health care system.
We will create a summary of each article we feature for those too busy to read it in its entirety.
New Summary
“Tho’ much is taken, much abides” A Good Life within Dementia
by Tia Powell (2018) “Tho much is taken, much abides”: A Good Life within Dementia, in Nancy Berlinger, Kate de Medeiros, and Mildred Z. Solomin (Edts.) What makes a Good Life in Late Life? Citizenship and Justice in Aging Societies, A Hastings Center Special Report, September-October 2018: S71-S74.
In writing these essays, we were asked to consider, “What makes a good life in late life?” I thought instantly, perhaps like many people, of photos and stories of older people taking up new careers and new hobbies-running marathons and soup kitchens, starting organic farms. This response is right and proper. Older people can leverage wisdom and creativity to make wonderful contributions to their communities and should be celebrated for doing so. But this happy picture is incomplete. We live longer than ever before, and with that long life, many of us can expect disability. This is the product of medical success. We are less likely to die from cancer, a heart attack, or a stroke; we survive with chronic illnesses and their associated disabilities. A good life in late life, for many of us, will be a life with disability. For this essay, I focus on dementia, a common and ultimately fatal illness, and one that typically lasts many years from the start of symptoms to the end. More than five million Americans currently suffer from dementia; fifteen million paid and volunteer caregivers help support them. What would a good life with dementia look like? How would it change from the early phase, when cognitive impairment and other challenges are relatively modest, to the final phase marked by severe cognitive and physical decline?
Tho’ Much is Taken, Much Abides: A Good Life Within Dementia – Full Article Summary
Past Summaries
Poverty – Not a Justification for Banning Physician-Assisted Death by Lindsey M. Freeman, Susannah L. Rose, and Stuart J. Youngner, The Hastings Center Report, 2018
Poverty – Not a Justification for Banning Physician-Assisted Death Article Summary
When Societal Structural Issues Become Patient Problems: The Role of Clinical Ethics Consultation by Aimee Milliken, Martha Jurchak, and Nicholas Sadovnikoff, Hastings Center Report, 2018
(Abstract)
When Societal Structural Issues Become Patient Problems-Article Summary
Feeling like a burden to others and the wish to hasten death in patients with advanced illness: A systematic review by Andrea Rodriquez-Prat, Albert Balaguer, Iris Crespo, Christina Monforte-Royo, Bioethics, 2019
(Abstract)
Feeling Like a Burden to Others – Article Summary
Nursing Ethics Huddles to Decrease Moral Distress among Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit? by Marianne C. Chiafery, Patrick Hopkins, Sally A. Norton, and Margie Hodges Shaw, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, 2018
(Abstract)
Nursing Ethics Huddles – Article Summary
Capacity for Preference – Respecting Patients with Compromised Decision-Making by Jason Adam Wasserman and Mark Christopher Navin, The Hastings Center Report, 2018
Capacity for Preference – Article Summary
Narrative Symposium: Doctor in the Family: Stories and Dilemmas Surrounding Illness in Relatives by Joseph J. Fins, Kathleen N.Fenton, Amos Ritter, et al., Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, 2018 (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/690220)
Narrative Symposium: Doctor in the Family: Stories and Dilemmas Surrounding Illness in Relatives
Can Rationing Through Inconvenience be Ethical? by Nir Eyal, Paul L Romain, and Christopher Robertson, Hastings Center Report, 2018
Can Rationing Through Inconvenience be Ethical? – Discussion Page
Workarounds Are Routinely Used by Nurses – But Are They Ethical? by Nancy Berlinger, The American Journal of Nursing, 2017
Workarounds Are Routinely Used by Nurses – But Are They Ethical?
How Long a Life is Enough Life? by D. Callahan & W. Gaylin, Hastings Center Report, 2017
How Long a Life is Enough Life?
Development of a Clinical Ethics Committee de Novo at a Small Community Hospital by Addressing Needs and Potential Barriers by Bonnie H. Arzuaga, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, 2017
Development of a Clinical Ethics Committee de Novo at a Small Community Hospital
After the DNR – Surrogates Who Persists in Requesting Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation by Ellen M. Robinson, Wendy Cadge, Angelika A. Zollfrank, M. Cornelia Crement, and Andrew M. Courtwright, The Hastings Centre Report, 2017
After the DNR – Surrogates Who Persists in Requesting Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Moral Agency, Moral Imagination, and Moral Community: Antidotes to Moral Distress by Terri Traudt, Joan Liaschenko and Cynthia Peden-McAlpine, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, 2016
Moral Agency Moral Imagination and Moral Community
The Nurse as the Patient’s Advocate: A Contrarian View by Sarah E Shannon, A Hastings Center Special Report, 2016
The Nurse as the Patient’s Advocate: A Contrarian View
Doctor Knows Best? Tubal Litigation in Young, Childless Women. Case study with commentaries by Kathryn Goldrath and Lauren B. Smith, The Hastings Center Report, 2016
Doctor Knows Best? Tubal Litigation in Young, Childless Women
How Can Clinical Ethics Committees Take on Organization Ethics? Some Practical Suggestions by James E Sabin.
How Can Clinical Ethics Committees Take on Organization Ethics? Some Practical Suggestions
Must We Be Courageous? by Ann B Hamric, John D Arras, and Margaret E Mohrmann.
On Not Taking “Yes” for an Answer by Alexander M. Capron.
On Not Taking “Yes” for an Answer
Reframing Conscientious Care. Providing Abortion Care When Law and Conscience Collide. By Mara Buchbinder, Dragana Lassiter, Rebecca Mercier, Amy Bryant, and Anne Drapkin Lyerly.
Reframing Conscientious Care. Providing Abortion Care When Law and Conscience Collide
Let’s not Forget about Clinical Ethics Committees! By Franco A. Carnevale.
Let’s not Forget about Clinical Ethics Committees!
Patient Satisfaction Surveys on a Scale of 0-10: Improving Health Care, or Leading It Astray? By Alexandra Junewicz and Stuart J. Younger.
The Ethics of Physicians’ Web Searches for Patients’ Information by Nicholas Genes and Jacob Appel.
The Ethics of Physicians’ Web Searches