Virtual Mentor. January 2007, Volume 9, Number 1: 1-80. Full Issue PDF

January 2007 Contents

Ethics of Cancer Care and Research

Ethics Poll

Which of the following best explains your understanding of your present health insurance coverage. If I were to get cancer:
All of my treatment-related expenses would be eligible for coverage.
My treatment-related expenses would be eligible for coverage up to a pre-set limit. After that, treatments would not be covered.
Treatment-related expenses that were deemed to be experimental or not generally accepted by the medical community would not be eligible for coverage.
I don't know what treatment-related expenses would be covered.

A 16-year-old chose to stop cancer treatments in favor of alternative therapy that had no empirical proof of effectiveness. His parents supported his decision, but his physicians reported the family to the state because the teen was refusing clinically proven care that they believed would save his life. Do you think the physicians acted properly?
Yes
No

Which of following best describes how you feel about employers' no-smoking policies.
As long as employees observe "no-smoking" areas, their behavior should not be of concern to the employer.
Employers have a right to impose a surcharge on smokers' contribution to their health insurance because they are at increased risk for illness.
After providing free smoking cessation classes and issuing a warning, a company can fire employees who have not quit in order to protect the health of other employees.

View results

From the Editor

Ethics in Oncology: Modern Concerns for an Age-Old Disease
Timothy Sullivan
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:3-5.

Educating for Professionalism

Clinical Cases

Testing Minors for Breast Cancer
Commentary by Anne-Marie Laberge and Wylie Burke
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:6-11.

Medical Student in the Middle: How Much Can Students Tell Patient?
Commentary by Peter Angelos
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:12-15.

Helping Patients Decide Whether to Participate in Clinical Trials
Commentary by Martin L. Smith and Eric D. Kodish
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:16-20.

Journal Discussion

Connecting Inadequate Health Insurance to Poorer Cancer Treatment Outcomes
Allison Grady
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:26-29.

Medical Education

Teaching Smoking Cessation in U.S. Medical Schools: A Long Way to Go
Alan C. Geller and Catherine A. Powers
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:21-25.

Clinical Pearl

Development of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine and Guidelines for Its Use
Amy L. Jonson
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:30-33.

Law, Policy, and Society

Health Law

Experimental Breast Cancer Treatments and Health Insurance Coverage
Lee Black
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:34-37.

Policy Forum

Setting Fair Prices for Life-Saving Drugs
Bruce A. Chabner and Thomas G. Roberts
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:38-43.

Is It Ethical to Send Patients to Low-Volume Hospitals for Cancer Surgery?
Timothy M. Pawlik and Kenneth K. Tanabe
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:44-47.

Inequality of Care and Cancer Survival
Victor R. Grann
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Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:48-51.

Medicine and Society

The Ethics of Requiring Employees To Quit Smoking
Howard Brody and E. Bernadette McKinney
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:52-55.

Op-Ed and Correspondence

Op-Ed

Challenging Teenagers' Right to Refuse Treatment
Arthur L. Caplan
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:56-61.

History, Art, and Narrative

Medical Humanities

Surviving (and Thriving with) Cancer
VM interview with Brian Ciccotelli
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:62-68.

Resources

Suggested Readings and Resources
PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:69-77.

About the Contributors
Full Text | PDF
Virtual Mentor. 2007; 9:78-80.