Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Health Care Ethics In Canada, Françoise Baylis, Barry Hoffmaster, Susan Sherwin, Kirstin Borgerson

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.

Downward Delegation Of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Decision-Making In A Restricted-Resource Environment: The Pitfalls Of Bedside Rationing, Christopher Simpson, Barry Hoffmaster, Paul Dorian

C. Barry Hoffmaster

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators have been shown to reduce all-cause mortality in some patient populations at risk of sudden death. New Canadian guidelines recommend implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy for these patients. However, the need for these devices exceeds the funded volumes in many Canadian jurisdictions. As a result, rationing of this resource has been necessary. While rationing at the macro (Ministry of Health) and meso (hospital) levels has achieved some level of acceptance by society, the responsibility for the decisions taken at the micro (individual) patient level actually rests with the physician at the bedside. This 'bedside rationing' creates a moral …

Bioethics In Social Context, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

"The problems of bioethics are embedded in people's lives and social worlds. They are shaped by individual biographies and relationships, by the ethos and institutions of health care, by economic and political pressures, by media depictions, and by the assumptions, beliefs, and values that permeate cultures and times. Yet these forces are largely ignored by a professional bioethics that concentrates on the theoretical justification of decisions.

The original essays in this volume use qualitative research methods to expose the multiple contexts within which the problems of bioethics arise, are defined and debated, and ultimately resolved. In a provocative concluding essay, …

A Survey Method For Investigating Ethical Decision Making In Family Practice, Barry Hoffmaster, Moira Stewart, Ronald Christie

C. Barry Hoffmaster

BACKGROUND: The tension between respect for patient autonomy versus concern for patient welfare is a challenging ethical issue for physicians. The purpose of this research was to describe a method for analyzing ethical decisions and to report the results of a survey of ethical decision making among family physicians.

METHODS: We developed a survey instrument that used simulated case scenarios, each of which posed an ethical dilemma. The ethical problems on the survey included the extent to which diagnostic information should be revealed to patients, the extent to which physicians should become involved in patients' life-style issues, and how to …

Between The Sacred And The Profane: Bodies, Property, And Patents In The Moore Case, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.

Morality And The Social Sciences, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Patenting Higher Life Forms, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.

Ethical Issues In Family Medicine, Ronald Christie, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.

How Family Physicians Approach Ethical Problems, Ronald Christie, Barry Hoffmaster, Martin Bass, Eric Mccracken

C. Barry Hoffmaster

The defining features of family medicine as described in the literature have important ethical implications. In an attempt to study the day-to-day practice of family physicians regarding these ethical issues, a 28-item questionnaire was sent to 95 part-time and 17 full-time family physician teachers associated with the University of Western Ontario's Department of Family Medicine. Of the 112 questionnaires mailed out, 97 were returned for a response rate of 86.6 percent. There was a significant spread of answers, suggesting there is no uniform opinion in the sample population. The findings suggest that there are important differences between the description of …

Contemporary Issues In Biomedical Ethics, John Davis, Barry Hoffmaster, Sarah Shorten

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.