Article
Ethics
Steven R. Kraaijeveld, Rachel Gur-Arie, Euzebiusz Jamrozik
Summary: This article provides an ethical analysis of COVID-19 vaccination of healthy children and presents three potential arguments for and objections against vaccinating children. Based on the current evidence and global health priorities, the authors argue that routine COVID-19 vaccination of healthy children is currently ethically unjustified and also oppose mandating COVID-19 vaccination for children.
Article
Ethics
Ellen Fox, Christopher C. Duke
Summary: The study found that factors such as hospital bed size, academic affiliation, and urban/rural location are associated with the volume of ethics consultations (ECs), but are not the primary drivers. Instead, these variables affect EC volume through their impact on several other variables related to ethics staffing.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Frank Ursin, Cristian Timmermann, Florian Steger
Summary: Efforts to specify the ethical requirements of artificial intelligence have been increasing, with a focus on explicability to reduce the black-box nature of machine learning algorithms. Through a conceptual-ethical analysis based on empirical document analysis, the importance of explicability in medical practice and its relation to established bioethical principles is explored. The position of radiological associations on ethical AI use is analyzed, considering references to explicability, reasons for inclusion, and ethical concepts referred to.
Article
Ethics
Daniel Rodger, Bruce P. Blackshaw
Summary: COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health and social care workers in England may fail to consider workers' concerns, exacerbate vaccine hesitancy, disproportionately affect minority workers, have negative impact on service provision, and potentially hinder recruitment. Daily rapid antigen testing could be a non-coercive and fair alternative.
NEW BIOETHICS-A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE BODY
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Monica Magalhaes
Summary: This essay argues that orphan drug policy should prioritize severity over prevalence when making funding decisions, in order to avoid neglecting treatments for severe rare diseases. Prioritizing severity avoids problems caused by prioritizing rarity, and is compatible with a range of normative frameworks.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Agata Ferretti, Marcello Ienca, Minerva Rivas Velarde, Samia Hurst, Effy Vayena
Summary: Members of Swiss Cantonal RECs have limited experience in reviewing big data research, lack expertise in data science, and feel uncertain about mitigating risks associated with big data research. To strengthen oversight, RECs could benefit from training in data science and big data ethics, utilizing external experts and ad hoc boards, and implementing precise shared practices.
JOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Ramon Alvarado
Summary: The author argues that even if AI technologies are more accurate and cost-effective than human radiologists, various considerations are still insufficient to replace human radiologists in the medical field. The reliability of current AI methods, such as deep neural networks, has not been established, and there are significant challenges to overcome in deploying them as medical devices. Therefore, there is not enough reason to advocate for the replacement of radiologists with AI methodologies like deep neural networks.
Article
Ethics
Mark Christopher Navin, Abram L. Brummett, Jason Adam Wasserman
Summary: Despite not meeting the strict criteria of the standard account of patient decision-making capacity, some patients can still have the ability to refuse treatment and possess ethical authority. Patients may have burdens-based or goals-based decision-making capacity for refusal, which can justify the moral authority of their refusal.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS
(2022)
Article
Medical Ethics
Daniel J. Hicks
Summary: This paper assesses whether the replication crisis extends to the field of environmental public health and whether open science requirements can address this crisis. There is currently limited empirical evidence regarding mass irreplicability in environmental public health, making it premature to make strong claims about the impact of the replication crisis in this field. Open data initiatives can promote reproducibility and robustness, but they have limited impact on promoting replicability. The paper also discusses other benefits of open science and offers suggestions for funding streams to mitigate the costs of adopting open science practices in environmental public health.
ACCOUNTABILITY IN RESEARCH-POLICIES AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Andrea Ferrario, Sophie Gloeckler, Nikola Biller-Andorno
Summary: This paper discusses the application of artificial intelligence systems in healthcare and clinical decision-making, focusing on decision-making based on incapacitated patients' values and goals of care. The authors propose viewing preference predicting AI as sociotechnical systems with distinct life-cycles and explore the challenges and strategies for their resolution at different stages of development.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Charlotte Blease
Summary: This paper discusses the potential negative consequence of patients accessing their clinical notes, namely the increase in 'nocebo effects'. Research shows that increased awareness about medication side effects, information framing, and socioemotional context can increase the risk of nocebo effects. The paper also explores the ethical implications and potential impact on justice and equity in clinical care for marginalized patient populations. Suggestions are provided on how health systems and clinicians can adapt to this innovation to reduce the risk of potential nocebo effects.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2023)
Review
Ethics
Antony Latham
Summary: Referrals for gender dysphoria have increased significantly recently, with a majority of natal females seeking treatment. Puberty blockers are offered to children to avoid puberty, but the long-term effects are uncertain. Research concludes that children are unable to understand the long-term consequences of treatment and therefore cannot consent to the use of puberty blockers.
NEW BIOETHICS-A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE BODY
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Siddhanth Sharma, Nisrine Kawa, Apoorva Gomber
Summary: COVAX is a global collaboration project facilitating the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, with an allocation mechanism consisting of equal distribution and need-based allocation. Some have questioned the fairness of this mechanism, proposing a need-based framework that prioritizes individuals. While theoretically a need-based distribution is more morally justifiable, in political reality, an equal distribution seems more effective in reducing deaths and disparities.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
E. J. Jardas, David Wasserman, David Wendler
Summary: The PPP is a proposed algorithm to predict treatment preferences for incapacitated patients, aiming to improve substituted judgement standards. Critics argue that decision-making methods should consider patients' freedom and evidence they would use.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Giorgia Pozzi
Summary: Machine learning (ML) systems are playing an increasingly important role in medicine and healthcare. This article examines the ethical and epistemic dimensions of ML systems' role in mediating patient-physician relations, focusing on the potential for silencing patients' voices and relativizing the credibility of their opinions.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Teresa Baron, Geoffrey Dierckxsens
Summary: This paper discusses the diagnosis and treatment of gender dysphoria (GD) in children and adolescents, as well as the bioethical issues surrounding these treatments. The authors argue that families and healthcare providers currently face two main ethical dilemmas in decision making regarding treatment: the pathway dilemma and the consent dilemma.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Lisa Dive, Ainsley J. Newson
Summary: Regardless of the intent behind RCS, its widespread implementation may be perceived as a form of eugenics.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2022)
Article
Medical Ethics
Shaoxiong (Brian) Xu, Guangwei Hu
Summary: Previous research has shown that authors of retracted publications are mainly responsible for retractions. The severity of culpable actions led to the classification of 17 reasons for retractions into five categories, with notices in hard disciplines more likely to disclose authorship issues, unreliable data, and inappropriate conduct, while soft disciplines were more likely to disclose unspecified misconduct and blatant misconduct.
ACCOUNTABILITY IN RESEARCH-ETHICS INTEGRITY AND POLICY
(2022)
Article
Ethics
Laurence B. McCullough, John Coverdale, Frank A. Chervenak
Summary: Incivility in the medical field is common and can cause personal and organizational harm. This paper provides a historical and philosophical account of the professional virtue of civility. It proposes that civility has cognitive, affective, behavioral, and social components and should be practiced to prevent a culture of incivility and promote professionalism. Medical educators and academic leaders play a crucial role in modeling and promoting civility.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS
(2023)
Article
Ethics
Kadija Ferryman
Summary: By utilizing Creary’s analytic of bounded justice, the author advocates for a more nuanced approach to racial issues in bioethics, specifically focusing on Blackness as a dialectical process of both invisibility and hyper-visibility. This viewpoint offers a lens through which the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetics and genomics can be examined, particularly in terms of inclusion in research. Counteracting racialization in precision medicine involves examining how marginalized groups are rendered invisible or hyper-visible in various aspects of the research process. Incorporating these questions into the inclusion efforts of biomedical research may foster powerful engagement with marginalized groups and shed light on the ways in which racialization can occur in real-time and undermine good intentions.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS
(2023)
