Ethical Issues in Ultrasound

Abstract

Ultrasound has been, and still is, a medical field involved in rapid technological changes. These changes have introduced some new ethical issues to be considered by the ultrasound professional. This paper examines the reasons for sonographers to consider ethical issues in ultrasound as well as two categories into which these issues fall. The first category includes those ethical issues with which our patients and society must grapple. These are issues with which we are peripherally involved as technical participants but not as decision-makers. The second category includes ethical issues with which we, as health professionals, are intimately involved due to the nature of our profession. Some fundamental ethical problems involving the issues in each category are explored, and some individual issues are discussed.

Keywords

ultrasound ethics consent prenatal diagnosis professionalism

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