{"title":"Ethical issues in worker productivity.","authors":"Linda Forst, Charles Levenstein","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Occupational health has always operated at the intersection of corporate economic concerns and worker health. Conflicting demands on the loyalty of occupational health professionals by the interests of labor and industry have made negotiating this minefield an essential part of the practice of occupational medicine. In recent years, occupational health professionals have found themselves increasingly required to rationalize worker health measures with economic arguments. This has led to physician engagement in the realm of defining and measuring worker productivity. Ethical guidelines that hold worker health as a top priority are critical in preserving the responsibility of occupational physicians to their patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"687-92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mental health issues: ethical considerations.","authors":"Peter M Fink","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Employer-initiated psychiatric evaluations raise a number of ethical issues particular to mental health in the workplace. This article addresses the ethical concerns and potential legal implications of psychiatrist and employee role ambiguity (e.g., \"mutual deception\"); describes the elements common to psychiatric examinations in this setting; offers one way to provide information and documentation of a confidentiality waiver; reviews some differences between psychiatric and general medical IME evaluations; discusses interview and report record \"ownership\"; reviews dangerousness assessment strengths and limitations; and addresses treatment and restoration to fitness issues.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"701-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21985964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Patient advocacy versus employer protection.","authors":"David Deubner, Richard E Sturm","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a departure from the usual Occupational Medicine: State of the Art Reviews article, this piece comprises responses from two occupational physicians to the question of how balance is achieved between employer and patient interests in occupational medicine. The authors discuss the ethical dilemmas that may arise in such relationships, negotiation of confrontations, physician responsibilities, and conflict resolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"607-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Genetic testing: ethical implications in the workplace.","authors":"Robert J McCunney","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The human genome project has led to impressive scientific advances in understanding the genetic basis of disease. To date, genetic risks associated with occupational illnesses are not well understood. Recent research, however, has uncovered an allele that appears directly related to the risk of contracting chronic beryllium disease; other chromosomal abnormalities have been identified in association with cancer. Progress from the human genome project has potential implications for predicting, screening, and diagnosing occupational diseases. Ethical issues associated with the use of genetic testing in the workplace will present employers, insurers, and physicians with challenging decisions related to promoting health in the workplace while avoiding potential misuse of sensitive genetic information.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"665-72"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Joseph LaDou, Dan J Tennenhouse, Ilise L Feitshans
{"title":"Codes of ethics (conduct).","authors":"Joseph LaDou, Dan J Tennenhouse, Ilise L Feitshans","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Some international organizations and many societies of health and safety professionals have codes of ethics (conduct). The intent is to promote ethical behavior, though compliance is voluntary and enforcement is generally not possible. It is important that all occupational health and safety professionals adopt and live up to the same code. It also is important that the same code of conduct apply to industrializing countries just as it applies to developed countries. A new International Code of Conduct (Ethics) for Occupational Health and Safety Professionals, developed by 40 international health and safety professionals and set forth in this article, addresses professional obligations and responsibilities and introduces a higher standard of ethical conduct than formerly existed.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"559-85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethics in the locker room: the challenges for team physicians.","authors":"Bonnie Salomon","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Team physicians act as occupational physicians in many traditional ways. However, they face unique ethical challenges when caring for athletes. Sports physicians must be cognizant of special aspects of the doctor-patient relationship, as well as issues related to informed consent, autonomy, and confidentiality. Conflicts of interest with players themselves, as well as with team management, are common. Team physicians must act professionally and maintain ethical principles, even in the high-pressure, high-performance world of athletics.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"693-700"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21985961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Protecting posterity: the occupational physician's ethical and legal obligations to pregnant workers.","authors":"Ilise L Feitshans","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article describes Federal and international codes and laws that relate to protection from reproductive hazards in the workplace. Occupational health practitioners are advised to shift their approach from managing the technical aspects needed to protect individual workers to the more global approach of effecting policy and supporting enforcement in the realm of reproductive health. This broader view will not only better protect women and children but will better serve the interest of society in replacing all existing workers and perpetuating civilization for posterity.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"673-85"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Confidentiality in occupational medicine.","authors":"Clifford S Mitchell","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Confidentiality of personal medical information is a serious concern in occupational medicine. New regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountablility Act (HIPAA) significantly alter procedures for protecting and managing confidential medical information. There are still questions about how much the new regulations will affect occupational medicine practices, but there will be significant changes in the collection, storage, and dissemination of personal medical information in the near future. The implications of increased confidentiality concerns on research are also considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"617-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Legal issues confronting the occupational physician.","authors":"Kenneth S Lewis, Ann-Louise Kleper","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Occupational physicians are frequently participants in a legal arena in which the interests of the patient are in conflict with those of the patient's employer. What is best for the patient may be viewed as financially burdensome or damaging to the employer. Pressures may be brought to bear upon the doctor, who is also concerned with furthering business relationships with the employer, to take action that is inimical to the patient's well-being. This article addresses legal liability and ethical responsibility in three situations: (1) when limitations or constraints are placed upon the physician's professional judgment in treating the patient; (2) when demands are made upon the physician to release medical information regarding a patient; and (3) when the physician is asked to perform a medical evaluation for purposes of litigation.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"625-35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethical issues in occupational disease outbreak investigations.","authors":"Jim Cone","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Occupational disease outbreak investigations usually involve rapid, small-scale analysis of reports of diseases with a suspected occupational etiology, usually in a single workplace or among workers of a single employer. Ethical issues are similar to those encountered in epidemiologic studies in the workplace, with the added constraints of the need to respond rapidly, limited numbers of subjects, low statistical power, and the mandate to issue results even when the ability to generalize them is limited. Informed consent, voluntary participation, fairness, and confidentiality are major ethical issues in workplace outbreak investigations. The obligation to publicly report a workplace hazard when a non-disclosure statement has been signed can also present an ethical dilemma for outbreak investigators.</p>","PeriodicalId":77306,"journal":{"name":"Occupational medicine (Philadelphia, Pa.)","volume":"17 4","pages":"657-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21986599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}