By Jamie Carlin Watson Increased understanding of social determinants of health and health literacy have expanded the responsibilities of the medical community from patients in the clinic to citizens at increased health risks. Fulfilling these responsibilities involves, in part, distributing timely and accurate health information that is accessible, understandable, and usable. Though increased commitment to […]
Month: July 2020
Surgery in COVID-19 Crisis Conditions: Can We Protect Our Ethical Integrity Against the Odds?
By J Macleod, S Mezher and R Hasan Since the dawn of the COVID-19 crisis, drastic changes have swept across many organisations. Healthcare providers are particularly affected by this; which we have experienced first-hand working in cardiac surgery. Working in this constantly evolving situation inevitably leads to uncertainty, inconsistency and even fear despite the best […]
CoViD-19: Time to rethink the RCT and consider more efficient and ethical approaches to clinical knowledge acquisition
By Michael Keane. A recent, much publicized, randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated that the corticosteroid, dexamethasone, reduced mortality from CoViD-19. This was hailed as a practice-changing breakthrough. The authors announced that “RECOVERY is a large, pragmatic, randomized, controlled adaptive platform trial designed to provide rapid and robust assessment of the impact of readily available potential […]
Covid-19: value-based policy making
By Jonathan Michaels. While claiming to be ‘following the science’ politicians in many countries have implemented a range of widely differing policies in relation to Covid-19. This week, the UK government has reopened various parts of the economy in England, including pubs and restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas. Evidence-based decision making is not value-free. In framing […]
Finding the space for ethics during a global crisis
By Mary Hall, Deborah Mbofana, Merryn Ekberg, and Mitch Harper The concept of emergency preparedness is based on the need to act rather than plan, to be able to pick up and run with a ready prepared, detailed plan. In the UK, the Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Response and Recovery sections of The Civil Contingencies […]
Advance Care Planning: A chance to be proactive not reactive
Rebecca A Brooks, Internal Medical Trainee, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Other Contributors: Helen Hayhoe Alistair J Mackett June 14, 2020 Whilst the benefits of advance care planning are being increasingly recognised [1], the current Covid-19 pandemic has emphasised the continued importance of a proactive rather than reactive approach to end-of-life care. In light of end-of-life care discussions around […]
What I learned about nutrition risks for Covid-19
Martin Kohlmeier, MD, PhD Review by Shane McAuliffe RD and Prof Sumantra (Shumone) Ray on behalf of the NNEdPro Nutrition & Covid-19 Taskforce I am just reading that the Director-General of the World Health Association, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing that the Covid-19 pandemic ‘is not even close to being over’. We need to aggressively […]
COVID 19 and Medical Humanities
The present pandemic, unprecedented in its spread and breadth and occurring at a time of extraordinary political upheaval and divisiveness, lays bare systemic prejudice against the most vulnerable among us. We at Medical Humanities, with our focus on global health and social justice, welcome discussion about how the crisis has disproportionately affected racial and fiscal […]
Where Race, Disparity, and Pandemic Collide: COVID-19 USA
Podcast by Oni Blackstock On today’s podcast, EIC Brandy Schillace interviews Dr. Oni Blackstock, Assistant Commissioner for the NYC Health Department’s Bureau of HIV. Dr. Blackstock is also a primary care and HIV doctor, as well as a researcher focused on the experiences of women and people of colour in healthcare. Dr. Blackstock joins us to […]
Immunity passports – reopening the economy and repackaging racism
By Natalie Kofler and Françoise Baylis In the midst of worldwide protests against anti-Black racism and violent policing, private companies and governments are developing a novel platform for discrimination that would effectively increase the reach of law enforcement into public society – so called, digital “immunity passports”. It all starts with a seemingly innocuous plan […]