Ethics checklists and sharing patients' information

doi:10.1136/bmj.b913

Published 5 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b913
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b913

Editor's Choice

Ethics checklists and sharing patients’ information

Fiona Godlee, editor, BMJ

fgodlee@bmj.com

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

How often do you think "ethics" when seeing a patient? You maybelieve that ethical issues are always at the front of yourmind, but is this really so, and would a checklist help? Ourethics commentator Daniel Sokol thinks it would (doi:10.1136/bmj.b879).Based on his recent experience of joining hospital ward rounds,he gives two cases where patients would have been better offif ethical issues had been raised routinely: a man with HIVinfection whose views on disclosure to his wife and girlfriendwere not known, and a demented man with cancer who was on intensivecare because his advance directive had been overlooked. Sokol’shosts, Washington Hospital Centre in Washington, DC, are nowpiloting the checklist, and Sokol hopes that others will followsuit. He asks a question similar to that posed in our editorialon the safer surgery checklist (BMJ 2009;338:b229): if you . . . [Full text of this article]

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