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The Ethics of Managing Conflicts in the Era of Social Media

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Ethical Issues in Pediatric Organ Transplantation

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 66))

Abstract

Increasingly, patients and families are engaging the media to influence transplant eligibility decisions for themselves or their family members. This chapter starts by reviewing the history of social media and how social media works as a means of persuasion, particularly in healthcare cases. The chapter then provides an overview of so-called social media crises, and presents an ethical framework to inform and assist policymakers, hospital centers and healthcare providers in responding to public outcry, while managing legal constraints to maintain patient confidentiality and ethical constraints to promote equity and utility in transplant access. In conclusion, the chapter addresses preventive strategies to mitigate both patient harm and public misperceptions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Sandra Amaral

  2. The Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Sandra Amaral

  3. Department of Medical Ethics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Pamela Nathanson & Chris Feudtner

  4. The Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Chris Feudtner

  5. Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Chris Feudtner

Authors
  1. Sandra Amaral
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  2. Pamela Nathanson
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  3. Chris Feudtner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandra Amaral .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family and, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

    Rebecca A. Greenberg

  2. Dept. of Pediatrics, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Winnipeg, Canada

    Aviva M. Goldberg

  3. Department of Philosophy I, University of Granada, Madrid, Spain

    David Rodríguez-Arias

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Amaral, S., Nathanson, P., Feudtner, C. (2016). The Ethics of Managing Conflicts in the Era of Social Media. In: Greenberg, R., Goldberg, A., Rodríguez-Arias, D. (eds) Ethical Issues in Pediatric Organ Transplantation. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 66. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29185-7_11

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