Gone are the days when healthcare practitioners needed to recall the legal age of consent for treatment –18, 12, 9, 15?  In most Canadian provinces, we now look for a person’s ‘capacity’ to make a particular decision – rather than ...

Pain management is a vitally important part of good health care, and an especially important part of quality care for patients at the end of life.  Several studies have shown that pain and symptom management is one of the core ...

The notions of complementary and alternative therapy and medicine (CAT or CAM) capture a huge range of products and practices.  Those terms potentially cover familiar ‘non-invasive’ therapies like massage and aromatherapy, but also more invasive things like acupuncture through to ...

This is a question healthcare professionals have to answer almost every day. As they work with patients and families who are making healthcare decisions, the goal is to move care in the right direction. How much control should patients have ...

Recruitment and retention of high quality health care staff is an ongoing challenge for hospitals in Canada, especially when it comes to nurses.  A 2008 study by the Canadian Nurses Association predicated that Canada would face a shortfall of 113,000 ...

The past year saw some significant events for ethics in healthcare practice, touching on the beginning and end of life, and its quality – as you might expect.  If you missed any of the headlines mentioned here, there will be ...

It’s that time of year again: flu season. Every year at this time influenza vaccinations for health care workers becomes a hot topic of conversation, and this year is no exception. In fact the topic is even hotter this year ...

Q: “I’ve thought that the soda tax idea in New York is a great idea. I’ve read some things where ethics people have rejected the idea. Why not tax soda?” A: My economics classes were a long time ago, but I ...

One of the ethical issues I get consulted about most frequently is when family members of a patient request that certain information be withheld from the patient, and in my experience it most often centers around cancer diagnoses. A typical ...

About a year ago there was a commentary in the Journal of the American Medical Association that sparked controversy by suggesting that in some cases, severe childhood obesity could justify state intervention on behalf of the child. The commentary received ...