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In the News
First anniversary for Massachusetts health care planThe foremost issue confronting the nearly universal care program after one year: containing costs.
Categories: In the News
UK gives go-ahead to human-pig embryosResearchers plan to use the human-pig embryos to create stem cells which they in turn will use to study the molecular mechanisms at work in certain heart diseases.
Categories: In the News
How Germany keeps health care costs downIt pays its doctors a fixed amount per quarter. When the budget for that quarter runs out, the doctors don't get paid.
Categories: In the News
Pathological gambling research guru funded by gaming industryDoes it matter that the Harvard institute founded by the foremost researcher into pathological gambling has received $9 million from the gaming industry over the last 12 years?
Categories: In the News
Research on therapeutic use of stem cells moving forwardPotential stem cell therapies are moving from the lab into clinical testing. Most of the trials to this point have used patients' own stem cells, but a small of group of privately-funded studies is looking to use embryonic cells.
Categories: In the News
The reprogrammable mouseResearchers from the Whitehead Institute report in Nature Biotechnology that they've been able to pharmaceutically revert the adult cells of a mouse created from iPS cells back into an embryonic-like state. The development is expected to aid research into how cells can be reprogrammed in a more orderly and efficient fashion.
Categories: In the News
Dying alone in the EROfficials at a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital have agreed to new guidelines after video surfaced of a woman dying in the hospital's emergency room. The woman had been there for 24 hours, the last hour of which she laid on the floor as hospital staff did nothing.
Categories: In the News
Bioethics in a pluralistic society: bioethical methodology in lieu of moral diversityAbstract In an attempt to promote in-depth dialogue amongst bioethicists coming from distinct disciplinary and religious backgrounds
this essay offers a critical analysis of a number of the leading methods of addressing pluralism in bioethics and. Exploring
the critiques and methodological proposals coming from the social sciences, the contract theorists, and the pragmatists, this
study describes the problems which arise when confronting moral diversity in a bioethical context and examines the ability
of these various methodologies to adequately resolve these matters. Finally, the foundations of a new conceptual framework
for bioethical methodology will be developed. It will be argued that these new methodological insights are able to overcome
the problems facing other methodologies and may provide a viable means for adequately addressing issues of pluralism in bioethics.
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Scientific ContributionDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9148-9Authors
Chris Durante, McGill University Faculty of Religious Studies Birks Building, 3520 University Street Montreal Quebec Canada H3A 2A7
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
MedWorm Sponsored Message: Find out how you can get your message across here by sponsoring this MedWorm news feed. Categories: In the News
Report on the conference “clinical ethics consultation: theories and methods—implementation—evaluation,” february 11–15, 2008, bochum, germanyReport on the conference “clinical ethics consultation: theories and methods—implementation—evaluation,” February 11–15, 2008, Bochum, Germany
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Short CommunicationDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9146-yAuthors
Daniel Strech, University of Tübingen Institute of Medical Ethics Tubingen GermanyAna Borove?ki, University of Zagreb Andrija Stampar School of Public Health Zagreb CroatiaLászló Kovács, University of Tübingen Interdepartmental Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities Tubingen Germany
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
Categories: In the News
Psychopathology and causal explanation in practice. a critical note on heidegger’s zollikon seminarsAbstract From 1959 until 1969, Heidegger lectured to psychiatrists and psychiatry students at the University of Zurich Psychiatric
Clinic and in Zollikon. The transcriptions of these lectures were published as the Zollikon Seminars. In these seminars Heidegger is highly critical of psychoanalysis, because of its causal and objectifying approach to the
human being. In general, Heidegger considers it an objectification or even an elimination of the human being to approach a
patient from a causal perspective. In our view Heidegger has overlooked the peculiar nature and complexity of psychotherapy
and psychiatry, namely that psychiatry is not just a discipline that combines a hermeneutical approach and a natural science
approach on a theoretical level, but it also deals with psychopathology in practice. We argue, also referring to Strawson
and Gadamer, that in psychiatric practice causal explanation and hermeneutic understanding are no mutually exclusive approaches.
We conclude that the encounter of philosophy and psychiatry in matters of causality and motivation could be particularly fruitful
when the practical situation is addressed, recognizing the special character of psychopathology.
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Scientific ContributionDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9137-zAuthors
Gerben Meynen, VU University Amsterdam, EMGO Institute VU medical center Department of Philosophy De Boelelaan 1105 1081 HV Amsterdam The NetherlandsJacco Verburgt, VU University Amsterdam Department of Philosophy De Boelelaan 1105 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
Categories: In the News
Tragedy and grenzsituationen in genetic predictionAbstract Philosophical anthropologies that emphasise the role of the emotions can be used to expand existing notions of moral agency
and learning in situations of great moral complexity. In this article we tell the story of one patient facing the tough decision
of whether to be tested for Huntington’s disease or not. We then interpret her story from two different but compatible philosophical
entry points: Aristotle’s conception of Greek tragedy and Karl Jaspers’ notion of Grenzsituationen (boundary situations). We continue by indicating some ways in which these two positions may be used for reflecting upon different
perspectives involved in clinical decision-making, those of patients, clinicians and bioethicists. We conclude that the ideas
we introduce can be used as hermeneutic tools for situating learning and dialogue within a broader cultural field in which
literature and art may also play important roles.
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Scientific ContributionDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9139-xAuthors
Kjetil Rommetveit, University of Bergen The Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities Allegt. 32 5020 Bergen NorwayRouven Porz, University of Basel Unit for Ethics in Biosciences Schönbeinstrasse 20 4056 Basel Switzerland
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
Categories: In the News
The illiberality of perfectionist enhancementAbstract With the rapid advance of bio-genetic technology, it will soon be possible for parents to design children who are born with
certain genetic traits. This raises the question whether parents should be allowed to use this technology to engineer their
children as they please. In this context it is often thought and argued that liberalism, which has a reputation for being
permissive of all kinds of practices, grants parents the right to do so. However, I will argue that, on an understanding of
liberalism that is identical to the one used by the defenders of genetic design, liberals should wary of such practices. Liberalism,
in its most general form, requires that any time individuals exercise power over others they justify it without relying on
any particular conception of what a good life is. When we design children to have certain traits that are only useful for
realising some conceptions of the good life, we are implicitly endorsing those conceptions. Hence this practice cannot be
justified in neutral terms, and liberals should be sceptical of it. Only when we engineer our children to have traits that
are useful for all conceptions of the good life can liberals allow the use of this new technology. Indeed, liberalism holds
that this is morally required.
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Scientific ContributionDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9150-2Authors
Teun J. Dekker, University College Maastricht, Maastricht University 6211 KH Maastricht The Netherlands
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
Categories: In the News
Ethical aspects of genome diversity research: genome research into cultural diversity or cultural diversity in genome research?Abstract The goal of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) was to reconstruct the history of human evolution and the historical
and geographical distribution of populations with the help of scientific research. Through this kind of research, the entire
spectrum of genetic diversity to be found in the human species was to be explored with the hope of generating a better understanding
of the history of humankind. An important part of this genome diversity research consists in taking blood and tissue samples
from indigenous populations. For various reasons, it has not been possible to execute this project in the planned scope and
form to date. Nevertheless, genomic diversity research addresses complex issues which prove to be highly relevant from the
perspective of research ethics, transcultural medical ethics, and cultural philosophy. In the article at hand, we discuss
these ethical issues as illustrated by the HGDP. This investigation focuses on the confrontation of culturally diverse images
of humans and their cosmologies within the framework of genome diversity research and the ethical questions it raises. We
argue that in addition to complex questions pertaining to research ethics such as informed consent and autonomy of probands,
genome diversity research also has a cultural–philosophical, meta-ethical, and phenomenological dimension which must be taken
into account in ethical discourses. Acknowledging this fact, we attempt to show the limits of current guidelines used in international
genome diversity studies, following this up by a formulation of theses designed to facilitate an appropriate inquiry and ethical
evaluation of intercultural dimensions of genome research.
Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Scientific ContributionDOI 10.1007/s11019-008-9147-xAuthors
Ilhan Ilkilic, Johannes Gutenberg University Institute for History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine Mainz GermanyNorbert W. Paul, Johannes Gutenberg University Institute for History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine Mainz Germany
Journal Medicine, Health Care and PhilosophyOnline ISSN 1572-8633Print ISSN 1386-7423 (Source: Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy)
MedWorm Sponsored Message: Find out how you can get your message across here by sponsoring this MedWorm news feed. Categories: In the News
Milgram's work continues to prompt discussionsFifty years later, researchers continue to sift and discuss data from Stanley Milgram's famous obedience studies, many of which would not be approved by ethics boards today.
Categories: In the News
Higher fares for obese fliers?One bioethicist says, yes, obese airline passengers should have to pay more. The question touches on a broader discussion about whether obesity should be viewed like ethnicity or gender.
Categories: In the News
[Editorial] A donor's taleCategories: In the News
[Clinical ethics] The "four quadrants" approach to clinical ethics case analysis; an application and reviewIn 1982, Jonsen, Siegler and Winslade published Clinical Ethics, in which they described the "four quadrants" approach, a new method of analysing clinical ethics cases. Although the book is now in its 6th edition, a literature search has revealed only one academic paper demonstrating the method at work. This paper is an attempt to start filling this gap. As a way of describing and testing the approach, I apply the four quadrants method to a detailed clinical ethics case. The analysis is interspersed with reflections on the method itself. It is hoped that this experiment will encourage ethicists and clinicians to devote more attention to this neglected approach. Categories: In the News
[Clinical ethics] Pharmacist conscience clauses and access to oral contraceptivesThe introduction of conscience clauses after the 1973 US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade allowed physicians and nurses to opt out of medical procedures, particularly abortions, to which they were morally opposed. In recent years pharmacists have requested the same consideration with regard to dispensing some medicines. This paper examines the pharmacists’ role and their professional and moral obligations to patients in the light of recent refusals by pharmacists to dispense oral contraceptives. A review of John Rawls’s concepts of the "original position" and the "veil of ignorance", along with consideration of the concept of compartmentalisation, are used to assess pharmacists’ requests and the moral and legal rights of patients to have their prescriptive needs met. Categories: In the News
[Clinical ethics] Moral distress among Norwegian doctorsBackground:
Medicine is full of value conflicts. Limited resources and legal regulations may place doctors in difficult ethical dilemmas and cause moral distress. Research on moral distress has so far been mainly studied in nurses. Objective:To describe whether Norwegian doctors experience stress related to ethical dilemmas and lack of resources, and to explore whether the doctors feel that they have good strategies for the resolution of ethical dilemmas. Design:Postal survey of a representative sample of 1497 Norwegian doctors in 2004, presenting statements about different ethical dilemmas, values and goals at their workplace. Results:The response rate was 67%. 57% admitted that it is difficult to criticise a colleague for professional misconduct and 51% for ethical misconduct. 51% described sometimes having to act against own conscience as distressing. 66% of the doctors experienced distress related to long waiting lists for treatment and to impaired patient care due to time constraints. 55% reported that time spent on administration and documentation is distressing. Female doctors experienced more stress that their male colleagues. 44% reported that their workplace lacked strategies for dealing with ethical dilemmas. Conclusion:Lack of resources creates moral dilemmas for physicians. Moral distress varies with specialty and gender. Lack of strategies to solve ethical dilemmas and low tolerance for conflict and critique from colleagues may obstruct important and necessary ethical dialogues and lead to suboptimal solutions of difficult ethical problems. Categories: In the News
[Clinical ethics] The ethics of non-heart-beating donation: how new technology can change the ethical landscapeThe global shortage of organs for transplantation and the development of new and better medical technologies for organ preservation have resulted in a renewed interest in non-heart-beating donation (NHBD). This article discusses ethical questions related to controlled and uncontrolled NHBD. It argues that certain preparative measures, such as giving anticoagulants, should be acceptable before patients are dead, but when they have passed a point where further curative treatment is futile, they are in the process of dying and they are unconscious. Furthermore, the article discusses consequences of technological developments based on improvement of a chest compression apparatus used today to make mechanical heart resuscitation. Such technological development can be used to transform cases of non-controlled NHBD to controlled NHBD. In our view, this is a step forward since the ethical difficulties related to controlled NHBD are easier to solve than those related to non-controlled NHBD. However, such technological developments also evoke other ethical questions. Categories: In the News
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