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Jun 23rd, 2008 • Posted in: News

Test makes it easier to diagnose Down syndrome, worrying some who say abortion rates will increase; American Medical Association panel says ‘mystery shoppers’ have no place in doctors’ offices

VARIOUS DATELINES
Ethical issues relating to medicine and the life sciences made headlines last week. Coverage included the following stories:

• A new test that allows for easy determination of whether a fetus has Down syndrome is raising ethics questions. The method under development is much less invasive and dangerous that amniocentesis, a procedure in which a sample of fluid is drawn from the uterus. Because amniocentesis carries a risk of miscarriage, it is typically performed only in high-risk cases, such as a baby being carried by a mother in her 40s. The new test, if it passes regulatory oversight, would cause no danger to the fetus but could raise the abortion rate if more fetuses are diagnosed with the disorder, reports the London Daily Telegraph.
• In Chicago, the annual meeting of the American Medical Association’s policy-making House of Delegates gave a thumbs-down to an unusual proposal: “secret shoppers” to rate the quality of medical care. The Chicago Tribune reports that while secrets shoppers are used commonly to rate and improve the quality of service in retail stores, they probably won’t show up in doctors’ offices any time soon. Delegates to the Chicago meeting said they did not trust the concept, worrying that secret shoppers could clog the pipeline for real patients and could be used by lawyers in malpractice cases. Proponents argued that while secret shoppers would not be used to assess doctors’ clinical skills, they could have provided valuable insight into how physicians manage patient relationships, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Sources: London Daily Telegraph, June 21 — U.S. News & World Report, June 20 — Chicago Tribune, June 20.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, June 2 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 17 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 5, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 1, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 17, 2007.

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   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, June 23 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 24 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 10 [...]

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