Health knowledge made personal
 In yesterday'sN.Y. Times, Pauline Chen writes that "Doctors and nurses 'feel trapped' . . . by the competing demands of administrators, insurance companies, lawyers, patients’ families and even one another. . . . And they are forced to compromise on what they believe is right for patients.”This is moral distress — "knowing what is ethically appropriate but being unable to act on it because of obstacles inherent in a situation." While not discussed in Chen's article, a number of studies confirm that the biggest source of moral distress for both nurses and physicians is being forced (by the law) to provide inappropriate end-of-life care.
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