The Journal of Hospital Ethics | MedStar Washington Hospital Center | MedStar Health

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) is a peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to furthering normative discussion associated with moral complexities and value conflicts as they relate both practically and theoretically to the care of patients, families, and clinicians within hospitals. JoHE publishes scholarly original features, clinical case analyses, and serves as an educational resource for medical and surgical residency programs, graduate schools, and bioethics committees, internationally. JoHE is produced and published by the John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. 

JoHE is the official proceedings publication for the International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation (ICCEC) and a partner journal of the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities (ASBH)

Editorial Group

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Evan G. DeRenzo, PhD
Ethicist & Editor, Emeritus
John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics
MedStar Washington

MANAGING EDITOR
Christian Carrozzo, PhD (c)
Educator & Editor
John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics
MedStar Washington
Department of Philosophy
University at Albany
State University of New York

MEDICAL EDITORS
Jack A. Sava, MD
Chief, Trauma
Director, Gold Surgery Team
MedStar Washington
Associate Professor of Surgery,
School of Medicine
Georgetown University Medical Center

Michael Pottash, MD
Director, Fellowship Program in Palliative Care
MedStar Washington
Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Georgetown University Medical Center

NURSING EDITOR
Lucia Wocial, PhD
Senior Clinical Ethicist
John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics
MedStar Washington

CONTENT EDITORS
Jory Barone, MLS
Medical Librarian
MedStar Washington

Fred King, MSLS
Medical Librarian
MedStar Washington

S. Layla Heimlich, MSLIS
Medical Librarian
MedStar Washington

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Nikki Glover
Administrative Coordinator
John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ben Krohmal, JD
Director, John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics
Associate Professor, School of Medicine,
Georgetown University Medical Center

Editorial Advisory Board

Amanda Anderson, MSN, MPA, RN
Doctoral Research Assistant, University at Buffalo, School of Nursing

Amanda Bush, MA, BSN, RN
Regional Nurse Wellness Specialist, MedStar Health, Center for Wellbeing

Chee M. Chan, MD, MPH
Medical Director, Intermediate Care Unit, MedStar Washington

O. Mary Dwyer, JD, MA
Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine

Laura K. Guidry-Grimes, PhD
Associate Ethicist, Center for Bioethics, Cleveland Clinic

Josh Hyatt, DSH, MHL
Adjunct Professor, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences

Jack Kilcullen, MD, JD, MPH
Physician, Medical Critical Care Service, INOVA

Eran Klein, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Sciences University

Tim Lahey, MD, MMSc
Director of Medical Ethics, Infectious Disease Attending and Professor of Medicine, University of Vermont Medical Center

Jason Lesandrini, MA
Assistant Vice President of Ethics, Advanced Care Planning and Spiritual Health, WellStar Health System

Barbara M. Mitchell, MSN, RN
Senior Director, Quality and High Reliability, MedStar Washington

Stephen Peterson, MD
Physician, Department of Psychiatry, MedStar Washington

Ira Y. Rabin, MD
Vice President of Medical Operations, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, MedStar Washington

Jack Schwartz, JD
Former Chief Council for Opinions and Advice, Maryland Attorney
General’s Office

Stephen Selinger, MD
Chief Medical Officer, Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center

Lindsay Semler, DNP, RN
Executive Director of Clinical Ethics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Eric A. Singer, MD
Assistant Professor, Section of Urologic Cancer, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Carol Taylor, RN, MSN, PhD
Senior Research Scholar, Kennedy Institute of Ethics and Professor, School of Nursing & Health Studies, Georgetown University

Eli Weber, PhD, MA
Bioethics Director, Kaiser Permanente, San Bernardino, California

Aims and Scope

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) is designed to enhance interdisciplinary discourse in bioethics, and to assist in the development of the practical reasoning and clinical skills required for recognizing, understanding, and managing moral uncertainties and ethical complexities within hospital systems and hospital practice.

Editorial Policy

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) adheres to the editorial standards and authorship criteria recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). We welcome submissions of completed manuscripts as well as abstract paper proposals by authors with academic or professional expertise in relevant fields. Whereas book reviews are solicited by the Editorial Group, all other submissions to the journal will be reviewed for publication with the understanding that they are not under consideration, accepted, or published elsewhere. Authors of all material accepted for publication will be required to assign copyright to the publisher. Please limit manuscript submissions (whether intended as a feature or case analysis) to a range of 4000-6000 words, and abstract paper proposals to 250 words. All manuscripts should be anonymized for review, include an abstract of no more than 250 words (a specific abstract structure is intentionally not provided given the interdisciplinary nature of the journal’s content). Please use JoHE's Manuscript Submission Checklist when submitting a manuscript for review. JoHE adheres to the American Medical Association Manual of Style (11th Edition).

Manuscript Submission

Manuscript submissions should be sent to Christian Carrozzo at christian.carrozzo@medstar.net. To facilitate the review process, all manuscripts should be submitted as MS Word documents. Manuscripts should be anonymized for review and include a separate cover letter with the title of the article, name of each author, contact information, institutional affiliation, and a statement declaring any conflicts of interest. Authors should also state that the manuscript has not been submitted or is being considered for publication, elsewhere. All submitted manuscripts should adhere to JoHE's complete set of editorial policies and guidelines as stated on this page at the time of submission.

Peer Review Process

Manuscript submissions are subject to two double-blind peer reviews by individuals chosen for their expertise in relation to the content of the manuscript. Should these two reviews result in inconsistent recommendations as to the general acceptance of the manuscript, a third individual will be selected for an additional double-blind peer review in order to determine the submission's suitability for publication. Reviewers follow a guided peer review process for the determination of a manuscript's acceptance, need for revision, as well as rejection, in addition to being provided the opportunity to return qualitative feedback to submitting authors (for additional information regarding this process, please contact the Managing Editor). Editors are not involved in decisions regarding papers they have authored or co-authored. Should any member of JoHE's Editorial Group or Editorial Advisory Board submit internally a manuscript for consideration, that manuscript will undergo the same double-blind peer review process and be held to the same publication standards as any other submission. In addition, accepted manuscripts will undergo a scholarship review by the medical librarians listed in the Editorial Group (Content Editors) as part of the production process.

Conflicts of Interest (COI)

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) requires authors to declare all competing interests in relation to their work. Submitted manuscripts must include a COI statement declaring any competing interests (financial and non-financial). Where authors have no competing interests, the manuscript should include the following statement: “The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.” Editors may ask for further information relating to competing interests. A competing interest exists when the author(s) interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by their personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations.

Human and Non-Human Animal Rights and Informed Consent

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) is not a research journal. JoHE only infrequently publishes research articles. When such an article does appear, however, the Editor-in-Chief will attest that the study, whether involving human research participants or non-human animals, has complied with local and United States (US) federal regulations governing such studies as well as international guidance and/or regulations where applicable. This attestation will be based on a letter from the relevant US Institutional Review Board(s) (IRB), (including, where relevant, evidence of informed consent if involving human participants) international guidance of the Declaration of Helsinki, and/or the US Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee(s) (IUCUC), confirming approval or exemption.

Data Sharing

Consistent with the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) policy on data management and sharing, the Editorial Group of the John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics supports data sharing as essential to scientists’ ability to expedite the translation of research results into knowledge, products, and procedures to improve human health. The Editorial Group of JoHE firmly believes that the sharing of scientific data “accelerates biomedical research discovery, in part by enabling validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies” https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-013.html. As such, where JoHE publishes an article involving original research, while complying with the above federal regulations, all relevant data should be made as widely and freely available as possible while safeguarding the privacy of any participants and protecting confidential and proprietary data.

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Any and all text generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not be accepted for publication in JoHE. In addition, any accompanying AI-generated figures, images, and graphics cannot be used unless with explicit permission from JoHE's Editorial Group. AI cannot be listed or claimed as an author or co-author (i.e., AI does not qualify as an author). Submission of AI-generated materials is only allowed when an AI system was used as part of an original study's formal research design or methods. Nevertheless, in such cases, the author(s) must include a clear description of the model or device used (i.e., its name, version, extension numbers, manufacturer) as well as disclose within JoHE's Manuscript Submission Checklist at the time of submission that AI was used within the methods of the relevant study.

Errata and Corrigenda

Errata are defined as errors introduced to the article by the publisher after acceptance and publication. All related corrections or changes to errata are communicated to the author by the Editorial Group and, ideally, are identified and corrected by the publisher before final production. Errata discovered after publication will be noted in a subsequent issue of the journal. Corrigenda are defined as changes to the article that the author wishes to publish at any time after acceptance and publication. Authors in this position should contact the Editorial Group, who will consider the impact of the suggested change and decide on a course of action.

Advertising Policy

The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) does not accept advertising or sponsorship for products or services of any kind.

Editorial Disclaimer, ISSN, and Copyright

The opinions and perspectives offered in JoHE reflect only the views of the authors and editors, and do not represent the views of others within the MedStar Health system or other institution or organization with which any of the members of the JoHE Editorial Advisory Board are affiliated. Clinical case analyses are entirely fictional. Authors of all material accepted for publication will be required to assign copyright to the publisher. No part of this journal may be reproduced by any process or technique without explicit written permission from the Editorial Group. The Journal of Hospital Ethics (JoHE) is indexed for research access in the following databases: EBSCO CINAHL, ProQuest, and the Philosopher’s Index, and is produced and published by the John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics, MedStar Health, Washington, DC. The following ISSN assignments have been made under the auspice of the Library of Congress (OCLC: 136972691): JoHE (Print) ISSN 1938-4955, JoHE (Online) ISSN 1938-4920 © Copyright 2012-2024 The John J. Lynch, MD Center for Ethics. All rights reserved.

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