Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons^™

Sexual Minority Rights Are Not Just For The West: Health And Safety Considerations In Africa, Robert Scott Stewart Ph.D., Dionne Van Reenen Ph.D., Richard Watuwa Ph.D.

Journal of Health Ethics

In a recent article, C.O. Akpan argues that it is “unnatural for a man to sleep with a man as with a woman, and the idea of marriage in this sense is an abomination” (“The morality of same-sex marriage: How not to globalize a cultural anomie,” Online Journal of Health Ethics, 13(1), 2017, p. 9). Arguments in favor of same sex marriage, he claims, are “driven and motivated by the human right fad” (p. 9) that is inappropriate for African countries.

We argue that the specific arguments Akpan employs against the morality of homosexuality and same-sex marriage are flawed. Our …

Is There A Doctor In The House? Medical Ethics And The Doctoral Honorific, Kenneth R. Pike, M. Scott Moore

Journal of Health Ethics

The proliferation of professional doctorates has reinvigorated debate over the use of the doctoral honorific. Doctorate holders are often addressed as “doctor” in academic contexts, but idiomatic American English associates “doctor” with physicians—licensed clinicians with doctoral degrees in medicine. The possibility of patient confusion has historically justified proscription of the doctoral honorific by others, including nurses, but recently such proscriptions have been withdrawn. An examination of history, language, and ethical reasoning leads us to conclude that, in the context of patient interaction, clinicians should eschew the doctoral honorific entirely. We think it appropriate for professionals to rely on training-pathway titles …

Tuskegee Syphilis Study Not America's Only Medical Scandal: Chester M. Southam, Md, Henrietta Lacks, And The Sloan-Kettering Research Scandal, Leonard F. Vernon

Journal of Health Ethics

The words “human medical experimentation” conjure up visions of Nazi medicine, which has come to exemplify the worst evils in the history of humankind. Places like Auschwitz and Dachau, where human life was cheap and test subjects plentiful were used as laboratories.

In 2010 the US government apologized to Guatemala for allowing U.S. doctors to infect Guatemalan prisoners and mental patients with syphilis 65 years earlier, while acknowledging dozens of similar experiments in the United States. These included studies that often involved making healthy people sick. such as in the Tuskegee syphilis study.

These experiments were often life threatening and …

Euthanasia, Assisted-Suicide, And Palliative Sedation: A Brief Clarification And Reinforcement Of The Moral Logic, Peter A. Depergola Ii

Journal of Health Ethics

A persistent misunderstanding of the moral distinctions between the practices of euthanasia, assisted suicide, and palliative sedation suggests a critical need to revisit the relationship each shares with licit medical practice in the context of palliative care. To that end, this essay grounds its arguments in two, straightforward premises: (i) the licitness of medical practice is largely determined by the balance between (a) good ends, (b) proportionate means, (c) appropriate circumstances, and (d) benevolent intentions; and (ii) whereas palliative sedation employs criteria A-D (above), both euthanasia and assisted suicide fail to secure criteria A-C. Drawing from this syllogism, the aim …

The Ethical Principle Of Vulnerability And The Case Against Human Organ Trafficking, Peter A. Depergola Ii

Journal of Health Ethics

An increasingly blurred understanding of the ethical significance of global "transplant transactions" - a curious combination of altruism and commerce, consent and coercion, gifts and theft, science and sorcery, care and human sacrifice - suggest a critical need to revisit the fundamental moral normlessness of the trafficking enterprise. This essay grounds its arguments in two, straightforward premises: (i) the ethical principle of respect for human vulnerability is an indispensable measure of the licitness of most, if not all, moral actions; and (ii) human organ trafficking violates the ethical principle of respect for human vulnerability. Drawing from this syllogism, the aim …

Does The Iranian Model Of Kidney Donation Compensation Work As An Ethical Global Model?, Jordan Potter

Journal of Health Ethics

Throughout the world, there is a massive global shortage of viable organs available for transplantation, and systems of cadaveric organ donation have thus far been unable to address this shortage. One potential remedy to this problem is to incentive live organ donation via cash incentives and other benefits, i.e. an organ sale, and this is the type of system Iran has used to effectively eliminate its national kidney waiting list since the late 1990s. In this article, the Iranian model of kidney donation compensation will be analyzed for its ability and effectiveness as an ethical global model, and this is …

Csr Activity Of Tobacco Companies In Indonesia: Is It A Genuine Social Responsibility?, Harsman Tandilittin, Christoph Luetge

Journal of Health Ethics

The adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in the tobacco industry has sparked a contentious debate in the international community. Tobacco industry’s CSR activities are honored by the government and Indonesian community with CSR awards due to their positive contributions. To assess the CSR activities of the tobacco companies and whether they are genuine forms of social responsibility or business motivation, we have collected the CSR activities and compared them with the negative impact of the tobacco industry in Indonesia. The CSR activities are in no way related to the negative impacts of tobacco in Indonesia. Therefore, CSR programs …