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Preservation of Confidential Health Care for Young Adults

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An interesting article titled “Health Reform and the Preservation of Confidential Health Care for Young Adults” written by Lauren Slive and Ryan Cramer appears in the Summer 2012 issue of the The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 40, issue 2, pages 383-390). A discussion is made regarding how sometimes when getting health care services confidential information can be inadvertently disclosed. If a breach of confidentiality can occur then a minor or young adult may not seek the health care services. The authors state “Of primary concern is that young adults, not just minors, who remain on their parents health insurance plans often forgo sensitive services with the concern that explanation of benefits (EOBs) from such services will inform their parents, the policyholders.” In addition, of note and some may not be aware of, with the passage of the Affordable … Read more

Attending to the Patient in the Informed Consent Process

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An interesting article titled “Personalized Disclosure by Information-on-Demand: Attending to Patients’ Needs in the Informed Consent Process” written by Gil Siegal, Richard J. Bonnie, and Paul S. Appelbaum appears in the Summer 2012 issue of the The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 40, issue 2, pages 359-367). A discussion is made of the current informed consent process and how it is the foundation of medical ethics and health law. Now is clear from the complications page of my website http://www.teethremoval.com/complications.html, I have numerous problems with the informed consent process. In the article the authors state “The underlying ethical principle on which informed consent rests — autonomy — embodies the idea that as rational moral agents, patients should be in command of decisions that relate to their bodies and lives. The corollary obligation of physicians — to respect and facilitate … Read more

What does the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Mean for Americans?

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Yahoo finance recently asked the question “Obamacare Will Become Reality: What Does it Mean for You?” by Kevin Chupka, November 13, 2012. The article discusses the Affordable Care Act which I recently discussed on this blog in the article Health Care Should Not Be Framed in the Personal Responsibility Narrative. The Affordable Care Act of course is widely known as Obamacare as is slanted to go into effect in the U.S. in 2014. The article from Yahoo Finance article says “Under Obamacare, states have two key decisions to make: (1) Whether to create state-run exchanges where people can shop for and select their health insurance coverage from an online marketplace, and (2) Whether to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans.” The article further discusses how pre-existing conditions will need to be covered and how it is quite possible that insurance … Read more

Primary Care Doctors Moving to the Concierge Model

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So if you haven’t heard by now, many primary care physicians have been, as of recently moving to a “concierge model.” In fact, a primary care doctor I was seeing for a while decided to do this. When is the last time you have been to your primary care physician (pcp) as perhaps they have as well? Just go on pcp websites across the U.S. and you may see the trend. For example, a practicing physician Dr. Rob discusses how he is Dropping Out over on http://more-distractible.org/2012/09/08/dropping-out/. “I will be starting a solo practice that does not file insurance, instead taking a monthly “subscription” fee, which gives patients access to me.” In the post he discusses his top 3 frustrations with the current health care system too many patients, not getting paid properly for providing care, and non-patient issues such … Read more

Do Physicians and Researchers Profit and Trade Stock on Privileged Information

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An interesting article titled “Do Physicians/Researchers Trade Stock Based on Privileged Information?” written by Elie Donath and Mark J. Eisenberg appears in the Summer 2012 issue of The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 40, issue 2, pages 391-393). Speculation is made that “…physicians/researchers are inappropriately profiting (by buying or selling stock) from information derived from advance copies of high-impact clinical trial data distributed by medical conferences or journals.” A case study is made looking at the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Up until 2008 ASCO selectively and discreetly distributed abstracts from all forthcoming presentations at the ASCO Conference to ASCO members 2 weeks prior to them becoming publicly accessible at the conference. The authors used multiple linear regression to look at the percentage change in stock price on the first trading day following the release of these abstracts. A … Read more