Apr 11, 2022

NATURE: Eric G. Campbell, PhD, and co-authors used a novel methodology to identify and survey physicians at high likelihood of participating in MAiD activities. They achieved good overall response rates (55%), and a high proportion of respondents that participated in MAiD activities (52%), demonstrating that it is possible to overcome survey cost and anonymity barriers to conducting quantitative research on MAiD. This methodology could be used in larger scale studies of MAiD or other bioethical issues with “hidden” physician populations.

Mar 31, 2022

COLORADO SUN: The number of Coloradans who received prescriptions to end their lives has increased each year since voters passed an aid-in-dying law in 2016, rising 18% in 2021 to 222 prescriptions obtained last year.

In a recent survey of 300 Colorado physicians conducted by Eric G. Campbell, PhD, 80% of doctors said they were willing to discuss medical aid in dying, but not nearly as many were ready to do it or had actually done it, according to Campbell’s research. About 52% said they had discussed aid in dying with a patient. Among physicians who had prescribed medical aid in dying, 75% said it was “emotionally fulfilling and professionally rewarding.” Almost 47% described it as “ethically challenging.”

Apr 4, 2022

MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE: Dr. Jeffrey Ho is among at least three doctors at Hennepin Healthcare who have side jobs in law enforcement. Ho sees no conflict between his roles, "both doctors and police strive to save lives, he said. "It is my life's work to develop these areas of intersection for the benefit of public protection."

This professional dynamic is unusual, said Eric Campbell, PhD, Director of Research at CBH. The dual allegiance poses a clear conflict of interest in areas of patient privacy and consent. "Police enforce laws," Campbell said. "Doctors, on the other hand, must prioritize the best interest of their patients over other things, which sometimes may include the law. The idea that one can equate doctors and law enforcement officers as being on the same team to quote, 'protect things,' that's a fallacy."

Mar 28, 2022

Congratulations to Tess Jones, PhD, Director of the Arts and Humanities in Healthcare Program, who was recognized by the Health Humanities Consortium, a national organization focused on transforming health and healthcare through the arts and humanities. The 2022 Visionary Award recognizes an individual who advances health humanities regionally, nationally and internationally via scholarship, presentations, appointed positions and more.

Mar 15, 2022

MEDSCAPE: Documents unsealed during recent talc lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson show that the company was involved in a study in which incarcerated, mostly Black men at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, were paid to be injected with asbestos in order that the company could compare its effect on their skin with that of talc.

Mar 8, 2022

ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE: When a detained person refuses food, their medical team faces ethical challenges. Center Director Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH and co-authors affirm that hunger strikes by immigrants and asylum seekers are constitutionally protected, nonviolent protests of last resort, which occur with remarkable frequency (2,500 during the first 6 months of the pandemic) in ICE detention facilities. Medical care in private prisons operated by GEO Group illustrate disregard for the ethical standards, by using force-feeding for punitive rather than medical reasons. Wynia says force-feeding and other involuntary medical procedures on people who choose to undertake hunger strikes should stop, and health care professionals.
Medpage Today also interviewed Dr. Wynia about this topic and article.

Mar 1, 2022

MEDICAL ETHICS ADVISOR: Most physicians are willing to talk with patients about medical aid in dying (MAiD) but fewer are willing to serve as an attending or consultant, according to a survey of more than 500 Colorado physicians, conducted by Eric G. Campbell, PhD and co-authors.
“Given that MAiD almost universally occurs outside of the inpatient setting, and given that ethics consults are almost universally within the inpatient setting, there’s a need for someone to provide ethical guidance to MAiD. “Education needs to be unbiased and should not be colored by entrenched beliefs about the acceptability, or lack thereof, of medical aid in dying.”

Feb 11, 2022

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: In a recent CDC webinar, “Ethics and Equity in Crisis Standards of Care,” Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH, underscored how complicated—and imperfect—medical ethics can be during disaster response. “This is why ethical dilemmas arise—because you have a circumstance in which you cannot optimize all of your key ethical principles,” Dr. Wynia said. “You have to pick some that are going to exceed the value of others.” For example, equity is important—even when trying to maximize the number of lives saved. In the rollout of vaccines, public health authorities sometimes prioritized older populations over people who have been historically marginalized.

Feb 9, 2022

CU ANSCHUTZ TODAY: Christine Baugh, PhD, MPH, studies the risk for and outcomes of traumatic brain injury in football. “In the lab I’ve worked with people suffering from longer-term effects of traumatic brain injury. What’s emerged is that in addition to improving individual health outcomes, we also need to think about this from a population and policy level,” she says. “We need to be asking what we can do to reduce the negative effects of this game?"
Football participation and its potential for long-term injury also exacerbate existing health disparities, if schools in lower-income areas don’t have the resources to hire trainers or other health professionals to work with athletes. “Or, it may be a situation where football is the primary way to have your child in an activity after school until you finish your job,” Baugh says. “You want them to do something that’s safer than alternatives that aren’t sanctioned by the school, but then they’re exposed to risk for injury. ”Baugh emphasizes that she and other researchers balance evidence with pragmatism, knowing that people aren’t going to suddenly stop playing or loving football, “so we’re asking how we can leverage this growing awareness of risk to make the game safer,” she says. “How can we improve outcomes for athletes across all levels of play?”