Medical ethicists are consultants, teachers, researchers, and policy makers in the field of medical ethics, the branch of philosophy that addresses the moral issues involved in medical practice and research. Medical ethics as a distinct field arose in the 1960s, although, of course, the realization that an ethical code is an essential aspect of the
Medical billers help doctors and other health care professionals get payment for services. They send bills to patients, private insurance companies, Medicare, and other insurers. Using special software, they file insurance claims electronically via an Internet connection. They keep files on patients and insurers, and use medical codes when filing claims. Most billers work from
Medical assistants help physicians in offices, hospitals, and clinics. They keep medical records, help examine and treat patients, and perform routine office duties to allow physicians to spend their time working directly with patients. Medical assistants are vitally important to the smooth and efficient operation of medical offices. There are approximately 387,000 medical assistants employed
Doctors and other health care professionals often make tape recordings documenting what happened during their patients’ appointments or surgical procedures. Medical transcriptionists listen to these tapes and transcribe, or type, reports of what the doctor said. The reports are then included in patients’ charts. Medical transcriptionists work in a variety of health care settings, including
Globalization has inevitably become part of all industries, as we observe the economy stretch worldwide due to cheaper travel, better communication methods, and common solutions to problems. Over the past decade a healthcare practice that has emerged with an unimagined scale of magnitude as a multibillion dollar industry is the global medical tourism industry. Privatization
An efficient system of medical malpractice liability law should induce physicians to supply precautionary medical treatments as long as the benefits exceed the costs. In practice, the US malpractice system may deviate from this ideal along two dimensions. First, it may create incentives to supply cost ineffective treatments based on fear of legal liability –
The notion of traveling abroad for the purposes of health and well-being is well established. The spas of Hungary, baths of Turkey, and geysers of Sweden have long been popular destinations for those seeking convalescence. Where surgical care was required, the direction of travel generally saw the wealthy citizens of poorer nations traveling to the
Science and medical writers translate technical medical and scientific information so it can be disseminated to the general public and professionals in the field. Science and medical writers research, interpret, write, and edit scientific and medical information. Their work often appears in books, technical studies and reports, magazine and trade journal articles, newspapers, company newsletters
Despite the great advances of medical science over the past 150 years, there are still groups that reject one or more medical treatments because of their religious beliefs or cultural traditions. The largest of these are the Jehovah’s Witnesses, with nearly seventeen million active members worldwide; while the Jehovah’s Witnesses used to object to a
Medical sociology is a subdiscipline of sociology that studies the social causes and consequences of health and illness (Cockerham 2004). Major areas of investigation include the social aspects of health and disease, the social behavior of health care workers and the people who utilize their services, the social functions of health organizations and institutions, the