Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Apoe Risk Disclosure: A Review Of Positive And Negative Outcome, Stacey Rowcliffe

Dissertations

Two of this century’s most significant healthcare challenges are Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment, with 40 million people suffering from the diseases. In fact, a conservative estimate projects that both conditions will double every 20 years until 2050. Alzheimer’s disease involves memory impairment, disorientation, confusion, and various problematic behaviors. Presently, no prevention method or cure has been discovered for Alzheimer’s. Mild cognitive impairment typically includes problems with memory, language, thinking, and judgment beyond those typical of one’s age. Usually, these symptoms do not interfere with daily activities but do not improve and have been linked with a risk of …

Engineering Mankind: The Sociopolitical Impact Of Eugenics In America, Megan Lee

Voces Novae

During the early twentieth century, the American eugenics movement prospered, spreading its influence within the sociopolitical framework of the United States. The notion of eugenics – the control of human breeding to increase desirable traits, was extensively propagated through the creation of sterilization laws and public programs. Eventually, the public came to view eugenics as a necessity in order to preserve and improve the quality of mankind for the future.

Precision Medicine And It's Ethical And Social Implications: Public Health And Gobal Persepctives, Evangel Sarwar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever since President Obama's launch of the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) in 2015, precision medicine (PM) has been anticipated as the new paradigm for healthcare with the capacity to “empower patients, researchers, and providers to work together toward the development of individualized care,” through research, technologies, and policies (President Obama, 2015). Precision Medicine (PM), in the form of genomics, offers unprecedented promise of providing new tools for improving health and reducing the burden of diseases, not just for the U.S. - but also globally. According to World Health Organization, genomics research and precision medicine will play a major part in …

Crispr Genetic Editing: Paths For Christian Acceptance And Analysis Of In Vivo And In Vitro Efficiency, Mandeep Sandhu

Scripps Senior Theses

With advancements in CRISPR-cas9 broadening the potential paths for clinical usage of genetic editing, conversations about genetic editing have grown to outside simply scientific communities and into mainstream conversations. This study focuses specifically on Christian discourse of genetic editing and locates four major tensions for many Christians when they think about genetic editing: beginning of life, Creator-human relationship, imago Dei, and stewardship. With these major concerns in mind, I identify epigenetics, somatic cell genetic editing, and in vivo genetic editing research as important research paths to pursue as they can potentially produce techniques that more Christian individuals would feel comfortable …

Biosocial Criminology Versus The Constitution, Karen E. Balter

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The continually emerging field of biosocial criminology provides a basis for productively merging biology with sociological reasonings for criminal behavior. Mainstream research in criminology focuses on environmental factors as the sole reason individuals exhibit antisocial behavior patterns and may ultimately commit crimes. Criminological research has travelled in this direction for decades. The current climate within this community subscribes heavily to the notion that biology has very little to do with why people behave the way they do, and if it did, government control would be the norm. The nature of biocriminology opens a door through which constitutional issues may enter. …

An Organizational Ethics Framework To Balance Individual Privacy And Population Interests Regarding Genetic Technologies, Christine Trani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American culture holds the right to privacy as one of the most esteemed rights for individuals. As such, the culture adamantly defends the right to privacy to ensure individuals have the opportunity to live freely. In the American healthcare system, the right to privacy is critical for individual autonomy. However, genetic science has pushed this boundary as it emphasizes the interdependency between individual and population health. Genetic technologies for healthcare have been increasing at an exponential rate since the early 2000s. Their implantation into clinical care has been a slower process due to ethical dilemmas. Specifically, ethical dilemmas revolve …

Safeguarding Genetic Privacy, Anna-Marie Struble, Emily Valji, Jennifer Lilly

CedarEthics: A Journal of Critical Thinking in Bioethics

Since the completion in 2003 of the Human Genome Project’s initial goal to map all the genes and discover the complete nucleotide sequence in the human genome, opportunities for many significant medical advances have opened up to us, including gene therapies for various genetically-linked medical disorders, the ability to create “custom-made” drugs, and early, reliable diagnosis of genetic predispositions to disease. Genetic testing, the inspection of a person’s DNA to identify mutated sequences, is medically relevant for individuals. However, along with the undeniable benefits this knowledge brings, serious questions have arisen concerning how this knowledge should be handled to protect …

A Kantian Ethical Analysis Of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, Emily Delk

CedarEthics: A Journal of Critical Thinking in Bioethics

In an era where new genetic and reproductive technologies are increasing, ethical concerns continue to grow as well. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique used in addition to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to screen embryos for genetic abnormalities and either discard them or place them in the uterus. The emergence of new uses for PGD has made PGD a frequent target of ethical commentary and speculation about a future of greatly increased genetic selection and manipulation of offspring (Robertson, 2003). Although PGD is not currently widespread, its potential for abuse signifies a need for serious ethical analysis. Immanuel Kant …

Finding Fault?: Exploring Legal Duties To Return Incidental Findings In Genomic Research, Elizabeth R. Pike, Karen H. Rothenberg, Benjamin E. Berkman

Faculty Scholarship

The use of whole genome sequencing in biomedical research is expected to produce dramatic advances in human health. The increasing use of this powerful, data-rich new technology in research, however, will inevitably give rise to incidental findings (IFs), findings with individual health or reproductive significance that are beyond the aims of the particular research, and the related questions of whether and to what extent researchers have an ethical obligation to return IFs. Many have concluded that researchers have an ethical obligation to return some findings in some circumstances, but have provided vague or context-dependent approaches to determining which IFs must …

Language In Genetics Research Informed Consent: The Language Gap And Unrecognized Miscommunication, Justin Morgenstern

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Informed choice is fundamentally a process of communication, reliant entirely on the tools of language. However, the meanings and understandings of words change with time, setting, and context, threatening the basis of consent. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of Canadian genetics research documents, exploring the impacts of language on informed consent. Numerous language usages were noted as potential barriers to informed consent, including language that was vague, variable, and unusually defined. Unique combinations of words were observed to generate novel concepts without clear meanings and definitions were absent or unclear. However, the ambiguity of the language was concealed by …

A Kantian Ethical Analysis Of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, Emily Delk

CedarEthics Online

In an era where new genetic and reproductive technologies are increasing, ethical concerns continue to grow as well. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a technique used in addition to in vitro fertilization (IVF) to screen embryos for genetic abnormalities and either discard them or place them in the uterus. The emergence of new uses for PGD has made PGD a frequent target of ethical commentary and speculation about a future of greatly increased genetic selection and manipulation of offspring (Robertson, 2003). Although PGD is not currently widespread, its potential for abuse signifies a need for serious ethical analysis. Immanuel Kant …

Finding Your Way: A Medical Ethics Handbook For Patients And Families, Katrina Bramstedt

Katrina A. Bramstedt

A medical ethics book geared for the lay audience. Current books in the marketplace are for medical professionals, academics, or students. This book is meant as a handbook for patients, families, and caretakers. The book will be of interest to those patients and families confronting major health-care decisions and to the professionals who work with these patients and families.

Dialogues, Dilemmas, And Disclosures: Genomic Research And Incidental Findings, Lynn W. Bush, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Genes And Plays: Bringing Elsi Issues To Life, Karen H. Rothenberg, Lynn W. Bush

Faculty Scholarship

Ethical complexities surround the promise of genomic technology and the power of genetic information as they alter conceptions of identity and dynamics within personal and professional relationships. Creative approaches such as dramatic vignettes offer a unique analytical stage for imagining the bioethical past and future. Dramatic narratives can bring to life images of differing perspectives and values when experiencing innovations in medicine. Although the scientific landscape shifts, concerns expressed in theatre from 50 years ago parallel many contemporary ELSI (ethical, legal and social implications) issues, highlighting the ongoing struggle to appreciate the impact of emerging genetic technologies on relationships. To …

Manipulating Fate: Medical Innovations, Ethical Implications, Theatrical Illuminations, Karen H. Rothenberg, Lynn W. Bush

Faculty Scholarship

Transformative innovations in medicine and their ethical complexities create frequent confusion and misinterpretation that color the imagination. Placed in historical context, theatre provides a framework to reflect upon how the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies evolve over time and how attempts to control fate through medical science have shaped -- and been shaped by -- personal and professional relationships. The drama of these human interactions is powerful and has the potential to generate fear, create hope, transform identity, and inspire empathy -- a vivid source to observe the complex implications of translating research into clinical practice through …

Changing The World With One Cell: The Story Of Hela, Allison Roberts

Allison Roberts

Poster Created for the Diversity Committee Fall 2011 Culture Corner featuring The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta Lacks’ cell culture spawned changes in medicine, science, ethics, society and the world. This Semester’s Culture Corner features selections from UT Libraries collection that highlight the areas effected by this one human and her immortal cell.

Undesirable Implications Of Disclosing Individual Genetic Results To Research Participants, Leslie Meltzer Henry

Leslie Meltzer Henry

The bioethics and legal community are divided over whether investigators who conduct biomedical research are ethically and/or legally obligated to disclose incidental genetic findings to research participants. This paper argues that the justification for disclosure rests on the mistaken view that principles of beneficence, respect, reciprocity, and/or justice require researchers to offer participants individual genetic results. Whereas these principles and others obligate physicians to share individually relevant results with patients with whom they share a fiduciary relationship in the clinical care setting, they do not similarly obligate investigators to share such information with participants in the research setting. Furthermore, proposals …

Consent To The Use Of Stored Dna For Genetics Research: A Survey Of Attitudes In The Jewish Population, Marc D. Schwartz, Karen H. Rothenberg, Linda Joseph, Judith Benkendorf, Caryn Lerman

Karen H. Rothenberg

No abstract provided.

The Ethical Phenomenon Of Gm-Corn: Anger, Anxiety, And Arrogance In Crossing American Borders, Jules Simon

Jules Simon

In terms of phenomenology, I often wonder about the relevance of what I do as a philosopher for the life of those with whom I come into contact. This ‘coming into contact’ happens for me on several levels: as one human among many, as a husband and father and son and brother, as a teacher, as a neighbor, and as country or city dweller. I remember with fondness those times in the late sultry summer months when, as a youth, I would drive with my father to this or that local farm-stand on some remote back road in the hills …

Undesirable Implications Of Disclosing Individual Genetic Results To Research Participants, Leslie Meltzer Henry

Faculty Scholarship

The bioethics and legal community are divided over whether investigators who conduct biomedical research are ethically and/or legally obligated to disclose incidental genetic findings to research participants. This paper argues that the justification for disclosure rests on the mistaken view that principles of beneficence, respect, reciprocity, and/or justice require researchers to offer participants individual genetic results. Whereas these principles and others obligate physicians to share individually relevant results with patients with whom they share a fiduciary relationship in the clinical care setting, they do not similarly obligate investigators to share such information with participants in the research setting. Furthermore, proposals …

Genetics: The Not-So-New Thing, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Practical knowledge of heredity predates history. Indigenous peoples laid the foundations of modern agriculture by developing plants such as corn. However, the language and metaphors of the Human Genome Project treat modern genetics as if it had no historical antecedents and fail to acknowledge these early contributions to the science of heredity. The results of this blindness are twofold: it exacerbates reluctance of native peoples to take part in genetic research and to garner the benefits of genetic medicine, and it encourages "biopiracy," as modern scientists "discover" and patent native plants.

Consent To The Use Of Stored Dna For Genetics Research: A Survey Of Attitudes In The Jewish Population, Marc D. Schwartz, Karen H. Rothenberg, Linda Joseph, Judith Benkendorf, Caryn Lerman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Genetic Testing's "Soft Underbelly", M. Therese Lysaught

M. Therese Lysaught

No abstract provided.

Medical Implications Of The Genetic Revolution, Monique K. Mansoura, Francis S. Collins

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Reconstruing Genetic Research As Research, M. Therese Lysaught

M. Therese Lysaught

No abstract provided.

Genetic Dilemmas And The Child's Right To An Open Future, Dena S. Davis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

In this paper, I examine three difficult issues raised by the Human Genome Project, and lay out an approach that takes seriously the interests of the child, present or future, while preserving the traditional commitment of professional geneticists to patient autonomy. The approach I take is based on Joel Feinberg's concept of "the child's right to an open future." In Part II, I describe the Human Genome Project, as well as the advances in assisted reproduction which give people ways to make use of the information engendered by the HGP. In Part III, I discuss the ethics of medical genetics, …

Update - March 1994, Loma Linda University Center For Christian Bioethics

Update

In this issue:

-- The Human Genome Project: A Molecular Approach to Defining Humanity
-- Some Legal Ramifications for Newborns
-- Ethical and Legal Ramifications of Predictive Genetic Information
-- Graduate program combines biomedical and clinical ethics