Literature Review

Healthcare leaders must confront toxicity to avoid obsolescence, SCAN Group CEO warns Time.News; by Grace Chen; 1/27/26 A new call to action from Dr. Sachin Jain emphasizes ethical leadership, honest self-assessment, and a relentless focus on patient needs as crucial for survival in a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape. Healthcare organizations face a stark choice: embrace ethical principles and actively combat internal toxicity, or risk becoming irrelevant.

Physicians’ end-of-life choices: a surprising study Medpage Today's KevinMD.com; by M. Bennet Broner, PhD; 1/3/26 In July, I wrote about the importance of end-of-life planning (EOL). Shortly after, I read a study that examined physicians’ EOL plans with advanced cancer and Alzheimer’s disease (stage unspecified). The study encompassed nations with different forms of aid in dying, from the U.S., where a terminal coma is the only option most states allow, to Belgium, where physician-assisted dying (PAD) and euthanasia are available. Although the term suicide has been used for PAD, it is incorrect, as no one who chooses these options desires to die; they just want a choice in how and when they do so. ... One would assume, as the researchers did, that physicians would utilize all available medical technology. However, they found that end-of-life choices were nuanced decisions. ...

Hastings Center unveils Strategic Plan: 2025-2029The Hastings Center for Bioetics; 4/24/25The Hastings Center for Bioethics launched its five-year strategic plan at a public event in New York on April 24... The strategic plan underscores the importance of three core areas of The Hastings Center’s work: research, publications, and engagement. It also articulates the Center’s vision and mission and its commitment to six values: independence, justice and equity, inclusiveness and diversity, rigor and excellence, relevance and impact, and integrity and moral courage. To fulfill the Center’s mission, the strategic plan outlines goals for its research, publications, engagement, and financial sustainability.Publisher's Note: This article was featured in The Hasting's Center's year in review.

Medical Aid in Dying legislation and the limits of prognostic science American Council on Science and Health; by Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA; 1/2/26... End-of-life issues are complex because empirical questions (what happens, works, or harms) that can be approached by science are deeply entangled with value questions (what should count as a good death, autonomy, dignity, moral limits). The recent decision by Governor Hochul of New York to advance and promise to sign a Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) bill provides us with the opportunity to consider that entanglement.

AI ‘griefbots’ resurrect dead loved ones — healthy or harmful? Medscape; by Maya Ordonez; 12/5/25 Justin Harrison’s mother passed away in 2022, but he still speaks with her every week. While his mother was still alive, Harrison recreated her virtually using generative artificial intelligence (AI) trained on videos, audio recordings, text messages, and basic information about her. This virtual persona, or “versona,” interacts with him and speaks much in the same way his mother did. He calls her after small wins, such as running a mile, or difficult times, such as when he’s sick. ... Editor's Note: Griefbots may offer comfort, yet they raise deep ethical concerns. These AI recreations are not our loved ones but rather are algorithmic replicas shaped by incomplete data. They make assumptions. They risk distorting what was real, blurring death’s finality, and commercializing our most vulnerable moments. As guardians of grief care and human dignity, we must ask: In using AI to “resurrect” the dead, do we honor memory or jeopardize it? First, do no harm. As this technology expands, we must protect the dignity of the deceased and the integrity of the bereaved. 

Canadian woman approved for assisted suicide instead of getting surgery LifeNews.com; by Steven Ertelt; 12/8/25 A Canadian woman suffering from parathyroid disease has revealed that she is considering assisted suicide because she cannot get the surgery she needs. Jolene Van Alstine, from Saskatchewan, suffers from a rare form of parathyroid disease, which results in extreme bone pain, nausea and vomiting. She requires surgery to remove a remaining parathyroid, but no surgeons in Saskatchewan are able to perform the operation. In order to be referred to another province for the operation, Van Alstine must first be seen by an endocrinologist, yet no Saskatchewan endocrinologists are currently accepting new patients. Van Alstine commented that the pain has become so unbearable that she has applied and been approved for Canada’s euthanasia and assisted suicide programme, with the ending of her life scheduled to take place on 7 January 2026.

New Jersey organ procurement organization under congressional investigation after ‘alarming’ whistleblower claimsCNN; by Jen Christensen; Story by Jen Christensen, 11/24/25 The US House Ways and Means Committee said Wednesday that it is investigating the organ procurement organization for the New Jersey region for what it called “extreme abuse of public trust” and possible illegal activity, including trying to procure organs from people who didn’t volunteer to be donors and, in at least one case, trying to continue with the organ recovery process in a patient who had “reanimated.”

How much power should we give AI in end-of-life decisions? Forbes; by Michael L. Millenson; 11/20/25 Could an artificial intelligence algorithm used for end-of-life care decisions predict better than your loved ones whether you’d want doctors to restart your heart if it stops unexpectedly? Or if you have a serious illness, should AI predictions about your overall survival odds be used to prod you to make your wishes clear before there’s a medical emergency? Ready or not, AI predictions are quietly set to become part of care decisions at the end of life. However, what role they’ll play in relation to human intelligence and values, and whether there can be a “moral” AI that takes those into account, remain wide-open questions. 

Reducing moral distress through interdisciplinary collaboration: the impact of a weekly palliative care and neonatology conference BMC Palliative Care; by Kirthi Devireddy, Riddhi Shukla, Rachel Boren, James E Slaven, Rebecca A Baker, Jayme D Allen, Karen M Moody; 11/11/25 Conclusion: A neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and palliative care-weekly-collaborative conference resulted in significantly decreased moral distress among NICU staff. Qualitative data revealed that both prolonging life with life-sustaining medical therapies (LSMTs) and ending it by withdrawing LSMTs in the context of prognostic uncertainty and institutional constraints creates significant moral distress among staff. Palliative care and NICU programs should consider implementing regular interdisciplinary collaborative conferences to address this distress.

Bearing witness in home hospice: Ethical reflections on caring for Asian American patients American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine; by Tuzhen Xu, PhD, APRN, FNP-C and Dan Song, PhD, RN This narrative aims to examine the ethical and cultural challenges faced by home hospice nurses when caring for Asian American patients in culturally diverse home-based environments. Drawing on personal experiences as a hospice nurse case manager and director, it explores how cultural practices such as avoiding direct discussions about death, prioritizing family-centered decision-making, and hesitating to use professional interpreters can conflict with hospice principles of patient autonomy and informed consent. 

Where the line is: The ethical limits of physician investingMedscape; by Donavyn Coffey;10/24/25So where is the legal and ethical line? Medscape Medical News spoke with physicians, entrepreneurs, and financial experts to explore how doctors can grow their wealth without putting their patients or their credibility at risk. [The article discusses:]

Rethinking slow codes: Gina Piscitello, Parker Crutchfield, Jason WassermanGeriPal podcast; by Eric Widera, Alex Smith, Gina Piscitello, Parker Crutchfield, Jason Wasserman; 10/23/25I’m going to begin with a wonderful quote from a recent editorial in Bioethics by our guests Parker Crutchfield & Jason Wasserman. This quote illustrates the tension between the widely held view in bioethics that slow codes are unethical, and the complexity of real world hospital practice: “Decisive moral positions are easy to come by when sitting in the cheap seats of academic journals, but a troubling ambivalence is naturally characteristic of live dilemmas.” ... Today we talk about what constitutes a slow code, short code, show code, and “Hollywood code.” We talk about walk don’t run, shallow compressions, and…injecting the epi into the mattress! We explore the arguments for and against slow codes: harm to families, harm to patients, moral distress for doctors and nurses; deceit, trust, and communication; do outcomes (e.g. family feels code was attempted) matter more than values (e.g. never lie or withhold information from family)? ... One thing we can all agree about: the ethics of slow codes need a rethink.