What have you been reading, hearing or TV viewing that has provoked some feelings of comfort or concern about what is happening in the world of medicine, medical care, treatment or science? Ethics is all about doing the right thing. Are you aware of any issues in medicine or biologic science which are being done right, could be improved or in fact represent totally unethical behavior? Write about them here.. and I will too! ..Maurice (DoktorMo@aol.com)
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TO FIND A TOPIC OF INTEREST TO YOU ON THIS BLOG, SIMPLY TYPE IN THE NAME OR WORDS RELATED TO THE TOPIC IN THE FIELD IN THE LEFT HAND SIDE AT TOP OF THE PAGE AND THEN CLICK ON “SEARCH BLOG”. WITH WELL OVER 900 TOPICS, MOST ABOUT GENERAL OR SPECIFIC ETHICAL ISSUES BUT NOT NECESSARILY RELATED TO ANY SPECIFIC DATE OR EVENT, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIND WHAT YOU WANT. IF YOU DON’T PLEASE WRITE TO ME ON THE FEEDBACK THREAD OR BY E-MAIL DoktorMo@aol.com
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Welcome to my latest Blogger presentation, effective September 23 2026. I invite our visitor participants to post fresh comments on this new volume. Are we entering a new era of constructive, productive communication? ..Maurice (DoktorMo)
posted by Maurice Bernstein, M.D. @ 10:43:00 AM
10 comments
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10 Comments:
Welcome to a potentially new and functional Bioethics Discussion Blog. I hope it continues to have interested and contributory visitors which deal with
the controversial aspects of medical/surgical ethics and function. ..Mauriice
(DoktorMo),
I was wondering if we could have a discussion about the benefits and harms to patient dignity created by the increased use of AI in healthcare.
Let’s see. On Wednesday, a woman is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee. She has requested an all female execution team. Why Not! There are only female mammographies and 95% of people working in hospitals and physician offices are female. If you are a male and visit an urology clinic, expect all females there except your physician.
PT
TC here! Where are my posts? I did give an answer to Misty's last post, then started a veey impirrant post on hiw AI has destroyed my professional relationship with my doc
Where are they?
RC
Tc here: Dr Mo since you didnt publish my original reply to Misty, please publish thus that is cleaned up.
Misty to your last reply: I don't agree & don't share uour optimism. it's 100% over for me. No "finding facilities", I quit. I made it clear here I'm over with ALL ER & specialty care, & The existing civil court sytem has given those monsters Carte Blanche to do anything they want, & they've fixed the game like a big casino. The DOJ will NEVER stop UIEs. (Even tbe Covr garments, so prized in this blog, sold all of you out & put you at the mercy of those facilities who don't want you to have them.)
For me there will be NO MORE "facilties" EVER. At 70 & near the end of my life I don't share an ounce of your optimism. All my past surgeries have been bad ones, except a 1999 right knee scope, but even this recent 2024 left knee scope waa a total disaster!
Pain & rehab is just a scam, Afrer my 02/19/25 trip to an ER with just a migraine they tricked me into a urine test, & i found out later was a totally unecessary drug test, AND the attending doctor ordered nurses to catheterizd me if i didnt cooperate--JUST FOR THAT? THE LAST STRAW.
I already hit my breaking point as I have had enough sexual abuse in medical stettings. The perversely ritualluzed, the systematical subjugatuon of victims is simply endemic, unavoidable. With the inevitabity of unecessary exposure, passive spectorship & chapperones. I will doe before bowing down to them.
Should I reach a point where my prostate grows any that more cardura control my urine flow, I will refuse the next steps of feminizing DHT blockers, prostate surgery or even a urology visit, never again! ; should I get an attack of appendicitis, kidney stones, heart attack, etc., I will quickly fix it permanently MY WAY rather than let any "professional" put their filthy hands on me ever again! I didn't even let my PCP's nurse touch me to take my BP at my last visit.
I thought I had a decent PCP, but I am hoing to have to file a complaint & already gave her 90 notuce to sue for an AI patient portal breach. It'll come to a head in January. Stay tuned. New thread of its own next. (Dr Mo please publish this & dscard the other one you failed to publish anyway!
TC
TC Welcome to your presentations now on Volume 135
Greetings to Dr. B and participants,
I have only had one instance of AI being used during an exam that I am aware of. I had a colonoscopy without sedation so I could watch and as they advanced the camera, a green box appeared and moved around the camera image. Sometimes it would stop on a particular area and the doctor would examine the spot. Seems like a decent use of AI image recognition. This seems to be a decent use of the technology.
EM
Hello All,
I had a recent Medicare Wellness check. Part of the check involves a Mini-Cog test. It’s an innocuous test involving recall and clock recognition. I refused the test to see what would happen. The “nurse” said it was required. I again said, “I’d rather not.”. She again said that Medicare required it. I again refused. Finally, she said I’d have to talk with the doc. When the doc arrived, he made no mention of the test. I received the hard copy after visit report and noted that I missed certain specific items on the Mini-Cog test. Wow! That was amazing for someone who didn’t take the test. I checked with Medicare to determine whether Medicare had specific instructions for doctors if the patient refused the test. I was told (via chat) that there was a doctors’ line but, I couldn’t access it. The chat person noted that my Medicare was handled by Anthem and informed me that I should check with Anthem. Ok! The tail is waging the horse! I didn’t contact Anthem. I didn’t want my blood pressure to skyrocket. I presume that for the doc to be paid by Medicare, all boxes must be ticked, including the Mini-Cog boxes. Ergo, the staff got creative and chose the boxes they liked for me. Moral to the story: Forgot the accuracy of your medical records. Refusal gets you creative errors; and, insurance companies rule even Medicare. Welcome to medical care 2026!
I wish everyone well.
Reginald
EM,
COVR Medical still sells garments to patients. You can go to this link: https://shop.covrmedical.com/ to buy COVR Medical garments directly.
Misty
Reginald,
The ACA mandated that all Medicare/Medicaid patients be evaluated for cognitive decline. However, they did not mandate how it was to be done. Some use a testing method and some do it by observation. So yes, boxes must be checked. It seems like they used their "judgment" to label you the way they liked as they viewed you probably as being uncooperative and now that is forever in your MRs which is scary so at the very least I would see if you could have a paper countering whatever they said. What is interesting is that some are billing for this separately while Medicare said this was to be included in the annual visit which is the loophole they are using. It said "included" which they are but didn't say it couldn't be billed. It is the same as the flu shot thing--many facilities don't charge for the vial of medicine but do charge for the insertion of the needle into the arm of the patient. Cindy and I have talked about other weird billing practices such as several places in Florida have a "facilities" charge they required to be paid upfront and sometimes in cash. Okay then lets do the MRI out on the road because of the use of the machine is different from where the machine is housed. This is also happening when a physician group is housed in a hospital as the patient often sees a separate bill for "facilities" use. Again, let's do the exam outside.
As for AI, Cindy and I did a recent podcast on this. While is can be great, there are some very alarming aspects to it such as patient privacy. We specifically discussed a woman who had come to the ER (I believe) with a migraine . Unknown to her, they were AI. Due to AI, she was labeled as a victim of domestic abuse. We do not know if she truly is or isn't a victim but this now forever in her MRs. We do know that this took away her right to patient autonomy and maybe could jeopardize her safety or perhaps the safety of some other woman who falls victims to this misuse of AI. Many, many ERs are using AI and I doubt if most patients know this and even if they knew it, there is no way for them to opt out. We also know that although patient records may be scrubbed of PII that AI is still "smart" enough to piece together enough to publicly identify people based on the wealth of information in the AI world. This is also very scary. We also know the majority of time that patients are not made aware of their records being used for AI purposes. Yes, there may be that form you never see that you sign for HIPAA but is that really enough? Shouldn't patients have to be specifically informed and explicit consent be given? JR
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