Dilemmas in Clinical Medicine

Although references in the course write-ups are not required, it is not surprising that the best papers do cite (relevant) articles, books etc. MEDLINE includes a large number of ethics related topics.

A quick review of the subject headings (using Ovid MEDLINE's "tree" feature) provided the subject headings listed below. NOTE: extraneous subjects have been trimmed from the list (for example "Bioethical Issues" included "Animal Welfare" as well as "Medical Futility").

Also note that this is a logical tree so that some MeSH headings may be found in two different parts of the tree. Just as "HIV Infections" may be found in both "Immunologic Diseases" and "Viral Diseases," "Ethics" is found in both "Humanities" and "Health Care." When these duplications occur, the downstream trees are usually identical (as are the specific articles in each heading).

MEDLINE Subject Headings

Humanities (Non MeSH)

Health Care (Non MeSH)

Ethics
- Bioethical Issues
  - Medical Futility
- Bioethics
  - Ethics, Clinical
- Complicity
- Conflict of Interest
- Ethical Analysis
- Ethical Relativism
- Ethical Review
- Ethical Theory
- Ethicists
- Ethics Committees
  - Ethics Committees, Clinical
  - Ethics Committees, Research
- Ethics, Professional
  - Ethics, Clinical
  - Ethics, Medical
- Humanism
- Morals
  - Conscience
  - Social Responsibility
    - Moral Obligations
  - Virtues
- Personhood
- Principle-Based Ethics
  - Beneficence
  - Personal Autonomy
  - Social Justice
- Professional Misconduct

Life

Beginning of Human Life
Quality of Life
Value of Life

Humanities (Non MeSH)

Philosophy
- Esthetics
- Life
  - Quality of Life
  - Value of Life
- Thanatology
- Vitalism

Psychiatry and Psychology (Non MeSH)

Communication
- Communication Barriers
- Disclosure
  - Truth Disclosure
  - Duty to Warn
Mental Competency
Physician-Patient Relations
Interprofessional Relations
Power (Psychology)
Paternalism
Patient Compliance
Maternal-Fetal Relations

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment (Non MeSH)

Health Care (Non MeSH)

Therapeutics
- Patient Care
  - Life Support Care
  - Palliative Care
  - Terminal Care
    - Euthanasia
      - Euthanasia, Active
      - Euthanasia, Passive
    - Hospice Care
    - Resuscitation Orders
    - Suicide, Assisted
  - Withholding Treatment
- Placebos

Health Care (Non MeSH)

Medical Errors
Patient Participation
Unnecessary Procedures

Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena (Non MeSH)

Patient Rights
- Confidentiality
- Informed Consent
- Patient Advocacy
- Right to Die
- Treatment Refusal
Advance Directives
Living Wills
Presumed Consent
Third-Party Consent (Surrogate Decision Making)
Quality of Life

Economics
- Resource Allocation
  - Health Care Rationing

Address questions about the course to: Dr. Jack Freer, jfreer@buffalo.edu

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