Don't use terrorism as an excuse for militarism

What's your excuse for Foley use?

Efforts to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) are underway worldwide. Reducing indwelling urinary catheter (or ‘Foley’) use is a key component of most prevention initiatives, which makes sense given the evidence showing its effectiveness in reducing CAUTI rates. Such an approach, however, requires a specific focus on promoting the use of appropriate indications for a Fo...

Mental illness as an excuse for civil wrongs.

Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give

There is an increasing pressure to “give wisely.” In a series of experiments, this paper indeed confirms that individuals give less to charities with lower performance metrics. Part of this reduction in giving, however, appears to be driven by individuals overweighting their dislike of low performance metrics as an excuse not to give. Excuse-driven responses to performance metrics persist even ...

Hypoglycemia: An Excuse for Poor Glycemic Control?

What is the evidence supporting the benefits of intensified glycemic control for diabetic patients? The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the Stockholm Diabetes Intervention Study (SDIS) showed that intensive therapy significantly reduced the incidence and progression of microvascular complications in patients with type 1 diabetes. In the DCCT, during a mean of 6.5 years, diab...

Medical ethics: an excuse for inefficiency?

There is frequently an appearance of conflict between medicine and economics. This arises first because the nature of health and health care requires the doctor to make decisions on behalf of the patient and thus serves to explain why medical ethics exist. But secondly it is due to the relative lack of acceptance of the ethics of the common good within medical ethics. As a result while economic...