upstate medical university center for bioethics and humanities

Bioethics in Brief

This newsletter is written and published under the direction of Center faculty on behalf of University Hospital. Bioethics in Brief is written for patients, families, and clinicians who confront bioethical issues. The newsletter features case discussion, a review of recent "hot topics," ethical issues confronting nurses, and the overlap of ethics with the law. We welcome dialogue and feedback, as well as suggestions of issues you might like to see explored in the newsletter. For further information, contact the newsletter's Editor, Deirdre Neilen at neilend@upstate.edu.

Highlights of each issue:

  • Caring for patients without surrogates under the Family Health Care Decisions Act, Why treat a baby killer, Havasupai genetic research case settled, Health Care Reform-what's new in 2010 and 2011...March 2011 PDF document
  • Family Health Care Decisions Act (FHCDA) questions; Legal, ethical, and clinical perspectives on the health care professional's repsonse to child sexual abuse, Baxter versus Montana update...April 2010 PDF document
  • Context: Seasonal and H1N1 influenza, The New York State Mandate, Pandemic Flu
    and hospital visiting hours, Is there and ethical obligation to be vaccinated?...January 2010 PDF document
  • Should we send illegal immigrants back home when they seek medical care? Three myths about the ethics of health care reform, Paying physicians to talk about end-of-life decisions...October 2009  PDF document

  • When parents say no to medical treatment for their children, Ethics consult FAQs, President's council on Bioethics...May 2009  PDF document

  • Multifetal reduction, NYC diabetes registry, Mental health parity...December 2008  PDF document

  • Dying patients, the FDA, Unproven drugs, The costs of health insurance...September 2008  PDF document

  • Drug money, Gifts to clinicians, Restricting physician's duty hours...January 2008  PDF document

  • When patients refuse treatment, HPV mandatory, Conscientious objection...July 2007  PDF document

  • Brain death, Pandemic flu, Autonomy, Public health & trans fats...March 2007  PDF document

  • Informed consent unnecessary, Tissue issue, Prisoners in medical research...December 2006  PDF document

  • Surfing for organs, Culture and transplantation, View from a patient...March 2006  PDF document

  • Caregiver's perspective, Culture & caregiving, When primary caregiver is not family...November 2005  PDF document

  • Law reform after Schiavo, Clinicians & military prisoner abuse, Five wishes...September 2005  PDF document

  • Medical Futility, Human growth hormone, Clinical drug trials...April 2005  PDF document

  • Problematic DNR orders, Malpractice frustration, Abuse of nurses...October 2004  PDF document

  • Determining patient capacity, Bodies for sale, Hospital policy watch...April 2004  PDF document
  • RX promotion, Supreme Court and The ADA, CT scan or CT scam, Artificial nutrition...September 2002  PDF document
  • Health care proxy, Kissing cousins, Hospitalized prisoners, It's ethical, but is it legal...Summer 2002 PDF document
  • Can patients refuse a transplant, AIDS vaccine, Sex selection, Genetic testing, Jehovah's Witnesses refusal...November 2001 PDF document
  • HIV children forced to take meds, Baby banking, Euthanasia legalized, Joined at birth, separated by law...February 2001  PDF document
  • Weighing "clear and convincing evidence," Human eggs for sale, DNA mapping, Protecting basic human rights...October 2000  PDF document
  • Can she handle the news, Supreme Court agrees, Gene therapy experiments halted, Minding the gap...May 2000  PDF document