Jekyll and Hyde in Medical Practice

 I've written many times about how doctors who exploit patients sexually can provide excellent care to and be idolized by their other pa...

Tatooing Medical Directives on our Bodies

Unfortunately I don't know Dr. Ed Friedlander, a pathologist in Kansas City, so I haven't had a chance to ask him about his decision...

Medical Ethics and Blaming the Victim

A article on female genital pain got me thinking about one of my pet peeves in medicine – blaming the victim. The condition – vulvodynia - ...

Stanford Medical Records Posted Online

The New York Times reported today that a spreadsheet with the names, diagnosis codes, admission and discharge dates, and billing charges fo...

Should a Convicted Rapist be Allowed to Practice Medicine?

In 2008, a military court convicted Dr. Mark Seldes, a Flight Surgeon serving in South Korea, for raping a civilian colleague. Dr. Seldes se...

Anthony Weiner and Medical Ethics

Representative Anthony Weiner's tearful confession of having (a) sent lewd photos to women over the internet and then (b) lied recurrent...

Insurance Executive Compensation and Medical Ethics

The uproar in Massachusetts about the golden parachute given to the former Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO that I posted about two weeks ago ref...

Doctor's Notes, Political Beliefs, and Medical Ethics

On February 19, during the protests against Governor Scott Walker's union-busting proposal, a video appeared showing physicians offerin...

Paying Health Care Executives and Board Members

Unions, employers, legislators, and the public erupted with anger at the announcement that Cleve Killingsworth, the former CEO and Presiden...

Can Patients Trust Accountable Care Organizations?

The 1990s version of managed care 1.0 crashed and burned because of distrust. Physicians distrusted the utilization review systems and payme...

Dr. Andrew Wakefield's Fraudulent Claims about Autism

This month the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a three part series by Brian Deer, detailing the fraud by which Dr. Andrew Wakefield ...

Psychiatrists, God, and Lying

A psychiatrist in Texas submitted an important question to Randy Cohen's "The Ethicist" column today. I've taken the libe...

Making Accountable Care Organizations Acceptable to the Public

The most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has a valuable article about the "Patient's Role in Accountable Care ...

Activist Patients, Cancer, and Medical Care

Two days ago I wrote about the polarized world of health policy, in which "physician-led reform" and "consumer-led reform...

"The Kids are All Right" and Doctor-Patient Sex

A few days ago my wife and I saw the new film "The Kids are All Right" at the charming little (100 or so seats) Savoy Theater in ...

Murder conviction and Malpractice Accusation in Massachusetts

This week a Massachusetts jury found Carolyn Riley guilty of second degree murder for causing the death of her four year old daughter Rebecc...

Facebook Friends, Judges, and Conflict of Interest

Florida's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee was recently asked the following question: Whether a judge may add lawyers who may appear b...

Doctor-Patient Sex: Why is it Unethical?

Earlier today I responded to the following anonymous response to a post I wrote in April about doctor-patient sex: What is the actual harm ...

Should Therapists Snoop in Their Patient's Facebook Site?

A colleague recently asked me this question: What do you think about therapists going to a patient's Facebook site if that site is open ...

Wendell Potter on For-Profit Health Insurance

Wendell Potter, who retired last April from his job as head of communications for the CIGNA health insurance company, has been in the news s...