After Class Medical Ethics

Informed consent is a complex topic which encompasses more than just risk disclosure, but involves decision making and dialogue. Keeping autonomy at the center, we discuss nuances of communication, timing, and how to most ethically discuss consenting to a procedure.

Welcome back! For today's episode, Grace sits down with Dr. Erin Kelly, a fellow in Palliative and Hospice Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, to discuss surrogate decision making - what it is, how does it affect patient care, and how do doctors and surrogate decision makers work together to make the best decisions for patients when they can't communicate their desires themselves. We also finish the episode with a fantastic discussion about Palliative Medicine and why you should keep it on your radar if you're a medical student deciding on what specialty to go into. We hope you enjoy this episode! (And please excuse any recording errors!)

Death is an integral part of the human experience. For many, it is perceived as a sad or uncomfortable process, but it doesn’t have to be. Today, Grace and Anthony sit down with Jared Raikin and Emily Folse, student leaders from Jefferson’s chapter of No One Dies Alone, to discuss this natural transition in human life for those going through it and those by their side.

Michael sits down with John A. Di Camillo, PhD to discuss the philosophy of personalism, its history, his experience as a translator, and what personalism has to teach us about clinical medicine.   Further reading:  https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/personalism/  https://dappledthings.org/2075/personalist-bioethics-a-translators-reflections/ Personalist Bioethics Amazon link

Mike, Grace, and Heli get festive for the final episode of 2020...   (Closing music credit to https://hymnary.org/media/fetch/179359)

We're pleased to introduce “To the End: Topics in End of Life Care”, a mini-series that focuses on ethical questions surrounding the decisions we make at the end of life. In this episode, Grace, Heli, Mike, and Anthony discuss patient autonomy and informed consent as critical components of healthcare ethics and delivery with Dr. Diann Ecret, a nurse-bioethicist who obtained her PhD in healthcare ethics from Duquesne University. 

In this episode of After Class, Heli has a candid conversation about humility in medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Baliff. The word “humility” shares origins with “humane” and “humanity”. Genuine humility involves cultivating an attitude of respect towards every life. Here we discuss a unique take on personal humility and imposter syndrome and hear some inspiring advice for medical students.

In this episode, we are exploring rural medicine with Dr. Robert Motley. From the ethics of access to care to the challenges of recruiting physicians, we discuss both the progress of rural medicine and its future.  Additional information: TED Talk “Changing the World, Fast,” Dr. Sanjeev Arora (Project ECHO): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5nlJxac0g Project ECHO: https://hsc.unm.edu/echo/ PA Rural Health Association: https://paruralhealth.org/ PA Community Health Centers Career Center: https://www.pachc.org/Career-Center National Rural Association: Policy Documents page: https://www.ruralhealthweb.org/advocate/policy-documents Rural Health Information Hub: https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/ and https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/guides Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts (interactive): https://www.kff.org/statedata/

In this episode, Michael explores the topic of Virtue Ethics. A philosophy traced back to Aristotle, Virtue Ethics is concerned with the formation of virtuous individuals based on ideal character traits. The life and work of Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, the father of bioethics and a famed proponent of this philosophy, is also discussed. What can Aristotle and Pellegrino teach us about being a good doctor, and what do they have to say about physician autonomy? Relevant Articles and Links: Edmund D. Pellegrino, Patient and Physician Autonomy: Conflicting Rights and Obligations in the Physician-Patient Relationship, 10 J. Contemp. Health L. & Pol'y 47 (1994). Pellegrino ED. Educating The Humanist Physician: An Ancient Ideal Reconsidered. JAMA. 1974;227(11):1288–1294. doi:10.1001/jama.1974.03230240046024 Stahl RY, Emanuel EJ. Physicians, Not Conscripts - Conscientious Objection in Health Care. N Engl J Med. 2017 Apr 6;376(14):1380-1385. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsb1612472. PMID: 28379789. Responses to Stahl & Emanuel: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc1706233?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed https://www.georgetown.edu/news/bioethics-founder-georgetown-professor-pellegrino-passes-away/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/

What is the role of compassion in patient care? Who bears the burden of this responsibility? How does compassion affect physicians? Is compassion an antidote to burnout?  We are exploring these questions and offering our personal opinions in this episode!