Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons^™

Preserving Life In An Age Of Autonomy: A Critique Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Adeline Holcombe

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis critiques physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as a reflection of Western thought’s shift from a biblical sanctity-of-life ethic toward autonomy and relativism. Through analysis of biblical and historical foundations, major cases, and state PAS laws, it argues that legalization weakens the state’s interest in preserving life, normalizes suicide, and exposes vulnerable populations to coercion, inadequate safeguards, and legal expansion. The thesis concludes that PAS laws should be repealed and that palliative care, hospice, and mental health treatment provide more compassionate and ethically sound alternatives.

Culture Wars In The Icu: When Medicine And Religion Collide, Ami Darby

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The overarching aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the research gap by investigating the experiences of Christian SDMs by asking two core questions: (1) Do covariates (Gender, Age, Education) and Religion predict satisfaction with care? and (2) Do covariates (Gender, Age, Education) and Religion predict satisfaction with decision making? This study contributes to the academic literature by addressing the gap in literature regarding the ICU experiences of Christian SDMs, and it extends John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Theory (MST) to include its limitations in its failure to capture the political landscape within healthcare systems and the effect of institutional …

Emerging Technologies For Forensic Genetic Identification, Lilly Llanos

Senior Honors Theses

There are many new innovations in forensic science that are being developed for the identification of biological evidence. These techniques include next-generation DNA sequencing, DNA phenotyping, and forensic genetic genealogy. This thesis will explore each, as well as newer applications of proteomics. The methodologies, reliability, practicality of cost and training, moral implications, and past research of each will be discussed. Finally, some ideas for future research and steps to drive growth and greater understanding will be suggested. This will encourage further innovations and the increased acceptance of forensic evidence in court. Each method was found to have both advantages and …

Improved Clinical Outcomes Due To Gfr-Based Clinical Interventions For The Prevention And Treatment Of Renal Disease As It Relates To The Veteran Population Managed By A Patient-Aligned Care Team, Sidneca Evangella Hazward

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to understand if the use of eGFR (CKD-EPI 2021) in the absence of race modification influenced early detection of renal disease for veterans managed by patient-aligned care teams. A retrospective cohort study design was used, analyzing patient data from the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). The study included veterans with available serum creatinine, albumin, eGFR, CKD-EPI 2021, etc. measurements and demographic data. The study employed a systematic data review of electronic medical records from 2019 to 2024 and utilized electronic data collection through a computerized patient record system (CPRS) data collection system. …

A Persuasive Case Against Government Authority In End-Of-Life Decisions For Vegetative Patients, Helen Gizachew

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The debate over whether the government should have jurisdiction to withdraw life support from people in a vegetative state is heating up, producing a persuasive case emphasizing the need to protect human liberty and oppose government overreach in matters of life and death. The key tenet of this argument is individual autonomy, which stresses a person's freedom to make decisions about their own life and body. Giving the government the authority to decide the fate of people in vegetative states violates this basic right, setting a dangerous precedent that undermines personal liberty and self-determination. Entrusting such decisions to a bureaucratic …

Infertility: An Evaluation Of Treatment Modalities And Ethical Considerations, Elise Ferenczy

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis reviews a variety of options for treatment of infertility, along with ethical considerations for each. The basis for ethical concerns will be primarily a biblical worldview, as the goal is to support Christian couples in decisions regarding infertility treatment. The biblical worldview is outlined to provide readers with an understanding of its core principles, and the Bible is used as the primary source for ethical discussion. The most common etiologies of infertility are outlined, followed by treatment modalities grouped by category. While some modalities present very few ethical concerns, others require careful consideration in many regards. Many of …

The Ethical Dilemmas Epigenetic Editing In Utero Presents To Christians, Victoria Hendrix

Senior Honors Theses

The development of CRISPR epigenetic editing technology was initially impactful due to its potential for disease treatment. However, despite the potential benefits of epigenetic technology, there exist ethical dilemmas surrounding its use in utero. The review of the ethical dilemmas of epigenetic editing in utero from a Christian perspective showed that research in epigenetic editing is promising, yet fraught with peril. The basic ethical issues of epigenetic editing in utero stem from its inaccuracy, lack of research concerning its effects on offspring, an incomplete understanding of gene interactions, and its connection to eugenics. The ethical concerns particularly relevant to Christians …

The Impact Of Champion Training On A Two-Clinician Indwelling Urinary Catheter Insertion Technique To Prevent Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (Cauti), Punitha Stevenson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are a most common and preventable health care associated infection. Approximately 15% to 25% of hospitalized patients receive a urinary catheter during their hospital stay. The PICOT question that guided this quality improvement project was: How does a two-clinician indwelling urinary catheter insertion technique affect the CAUTI rate over one month in one unit? To answer the question, 19 high-quality studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were reviewed. These articles recommended using CAUTI bundle and champion training by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce CAUTIs and catheter days. This evidence-based intervention …

The Revolutionary Genome Editor: Crispr-Cas9 Systems, Grace Spade

Senior Honors Theses

Genetic engineering is the modification of an organism's genetic material to alter its traits through adding, deleting, or changing specific genes. CRISPR-Cas9 systems are groundbreaking tools for genetic engineering, in short utilizing a molecule called RNA to guide a protein called Cas9 to a specific location in DNA to add, delete, or replace genes. The history of how the CRISPR-Cas9 systems came into existence, how it was adapted from a natural defense system in bacteria, and its mechanism of action in both are explained. Its applications, both present and future, competing genetic modifiers, advantages and disadvantages, and the ethical dilemmas …

In Vitro Gametogenesis: A Research Timeline And Implications For The Future Of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Nicole Buckley

Senior Honors Theses

The novel reproductive technology, In Vitro Gametogenesis (IVG), includes the process of obtaining mature viable germ cells from pluripotent stem cells. To do so, embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells are specified to primordial germ cells and differentiated to form gametes that undergo further maturation, which subsequently may undergo in vitro fertilization to form an embryo. With this capability, IVG holds the power to provide a novel treatment option for human infertility. As of now, research has been conducted on mice successfully, and with limited success in humans. Future research will likely focus on discovering the species-specific differences …

Where Do We Draw The Line? The Ethical Dilemma Involved In Genetic Engineering And Gene Therapy, Amber Schrag

Senior Honors Theses

Genetic engineering and gene therapy are greatly disputed in our time. With the advancement of technology, one has the power to manipulate genes in the body, which raises the questions: What is our role in this? Is there a limit to this power, or should there be? This paper reviews the uses of this technology and evaluates the ethics from a scientific and Biblical point of view. It is concluded that using gene therapy to help cure diseases is very beneficial in both the scientific and Biblical realm as it is restoring individuals back to health and wholeness.

Nursing Considerations For Post-Traumatic Amnesia After A Traumatic Brain Injury, Hannah Grant

Senior Honors Theses

A period known as post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) often follows a traumatic brain injury (TBI). PTA is characterized by anterograde and retrograde amnesia, confusion, disorientation, and agitation. The duration and severity of PTA is a key indicator of the long-term prognosis after a TBI, so proper assessment and nursing care of a PTA patient is crucial. TBIs range from mild to severe, but primarily affect the fronto-temporal lobes. In PTA, both neural lesions and white matter damage within the parahippocampal region can cause PTA. A nurse must perform a thorough assessment of a TBI patient, but, since PTA is a key …

Division In Rural America: Understanding The Difference Between Refusal To Treat Based On Medical Conscience Versus Discrimination And How To Overcome It, Sarah Mcmillen, Alexander Mcmillen, Melanie Kuder

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Division in Rural America: Understanding the Difference Between Refusal to Treat Based on Medical Conscience Versus Discrimination and How to Overcome It

Melanie Kuder, PharmD, Alexander X. McMillen

and Sarah A. McMillen, PsyD.

This paper will provide an exploration of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), how the guidelines on what constitutes adequate care have changed since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a revision on March 30, 2020, the use of medical conscience as the right to refuse, and how the communities in Kansas have responded to this.

Promoting Health Literacy To Aging Christians To Combat The Scourge Of Euthanasia Through The Church, Willie Mae Corley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The many dilemmas that occur in the medical care of chronically ill seniors raise the question of whether senior populations have become the new black. The research seeks to provide an evidence-based review of limited health literacy among elderly African American Christians regarding diagnoses and medical treatments, which has resulted in unethical Christian practices becoming a norm. The researcher adapted the health literacy framework of Paasche Orlow and Wolf’s view of three distinct causes that influence health literacy: the access and utilization of health care, the patient-provider relationship, and self-care. The problem is that Victory Church members may not understand …

The Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act And Its Impact On Privacy And Confidentiality In Healthcare, Allyssa Stadler

Senior Honors Theses

The world of healthcare and technology has continued to grow and expand into the future while HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), the foundational patient privacy law in the United States of America, is attempting to keep up with this new world. This thesis reviews HIPAA and other health-related laws necessary to understanding patient privacy. It analyzes peer-reviewed studies on patient confidentiality and HIPAA to elicit the patient’s and provider’s opinion on HIPAA and patient confidentiality. Lastly, the current challenges of patient confidentiality and HIPAA are discussed, and potential solutions are suggested to improve these issues.

Cited At Nuremberg: The American Eugenics Movement, Its Influence Abroad, The Buck V. Bell Decision, And The Subsequent Bioethical Implications Of The Holocaust, Bessie Blackburn

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Eugenics was a bioethical movement that captivated many Americans at the turn of the nineteenth century and even into the Progressive era. No event in American history better encapsulates the American eugenics movement than the trial of Carrie Buck and her later forced sterilization. This trial is monumental not only to understanding American eugenic policy, but also international reactions and Nazi Germany’s chilling use of this pseudoscience in the Holocaust. In order to best understand the trial of Carrie Buck, one must look first look at the origins of eugenics, second, the context of the eugenics movement in America and …

Vaccines In Current Culture: The Hpv Vaccine Controversy, Alyssa Johnston

Senior Honors Theses

The use of vaccinations has drastically decreased mortality and morbidity rates related to infectious disease and has become an intrinsic part of modern health care. However, the fear of risks related to vaccines has been partially responsible for the decisions of many parents to delay or avoid vaccinating their children. The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine specifically is one of the most controversial vaccines in current culture due to reports of new onset or exacerbation of autoimmune diseases, infertility, and even death following its administration. This review synthesizes information regarding the relevance and safety of the HPV vaccine, as well …

Inconceivable: An Analysis Of Assisted Reproductive Technology For The Church, Mary Elizabeth Gresham

Senior Honors Theses

Infertility pushes the boundaries of emotional and physical health, which is why many couples inside and outside the church turn to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) for a solution. Despite what has seemed like silence from the Church, some individuals have braved the biological confusion and ethical dilemmas to evaluate the technology. Three major ethical viewpoints have emerged that each prioritize something over medical technology, namely community, order, or human dignity. This paper serves to educate pastors and church leaders on the ever-changing biology of ART as well as give voice to Christians that have spoken out on this issue. At …

Spiritual And Religious Interventions For Medically High-Risk Adults: A Systematic Review, Nathanael J. Strissel

Senior Honors Theses

This systematic review is an update and expansion to the population and methods of a previous systematic review concerning spiritual and religious interventions for the well-being of terminally ill adults. After expanding the criteria to incorporate a more diverse population and including non-randomized experimental studies that contained relatively few concerns of bias, the results of the review are inconclusive due to insufficient data. The lack of usable data in the field highlights the ethical and theoretical issues with the use of experimental trials in analyzing the efficacy of spiritual and religious interventions. The development of spirituality in healthcare will remain …

The Role Of Compassion In Medical Ethics And Its Reintegration In Modern Practice, Hannah E. Borchers

Senior Honors Theses

Compassion has been an integral part of medical ethics since its origins, but as medicine progressed, compassion slowly disappeared from practice. The development of any industry results from many complex factors, but the decline of compassion in medicine can be largely attributed to the evolution of technology and role of medical ethics committees. Change is not always negative, but in this case, medicine neglected one of its foundational principles. This is seen by analyzing the history and progression of medical ethics and its four pillars. Plato and Aristotle defined justice in Greek philosophy, Hippocrates used the concept of non-maleficence in …

Antibiotic Overuse: The History, Consequences, And Possible Solutions, Brooke A. Bost

Senior Honors Theses

Antibiotic overuse has become alarmingly accepted in the developed world. This overuse is leading to drug resistance in microbes, resulting in bacterial infections that are impossible to treat. Steps must be taken to reverse the damage that has already been done and prevent further resistance from developing. This thesis will examine the context and societal situations that led to this acceptance of antibiotic overuse and misuse seen in both health care professionals and the public, the biochemical and genetic pathways that allow a microbe to develop drug resistance, the various methods that have been suggested by experts to prevent and …

Statins And Kidney Failure, Rebekah Pemberton

Senior Honors Theses

Use of the HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, also known as statins, in patients with renal dysfunction is laden with controversy. Studies on statin use in renal patients have given varying reports. Some research has indicated that these medications may exacerbate existing renal dysfunction and induce further progression of renal disease. Furthermore, some researchers have suggested statins may actually cause some cases of renal dysfunction through the effects of rhabdomyolysis, acute interstitial nephritis, or necrotizing immune-mediated myopathy, while other researchers have asserted that the statins can have nephroprotective effects. The use of statins is believed to be ineffective in patients who are …

The Pluripotency Proposition: A Biological And Ethical Case For The Utilization Of Hipscs In Place Of Hescs, Drew Dickson

Senior Honors Theses

Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research has spurred ethical controversy ever since it became feasible in 1998. The reason for this is due to the fact that hESC research requires the destruction of a human embryo, thereby causing the cessation of life for that developing human. Despite this unavoidable consequence, many advocates of hESC research hold to the belief that the embryo is not actually a human person, and therefore deem the destruction of the embryo as justifiable. Many advocates of hESC research also have pointed to the unprecedented medical potential of hESCs to argue in favor of their case. …

Hormonal Birth Control And Abortifacient Mechanisms, Catherine M. Powell

Senior Honors Theses

Recently, there has been a growing controversy, especially among evangelicals, over whether the birth control pill might have an abortifacient mechanism that sometimes causes early chemical abortions. An understanding of this controversy necessitates a clear definition of abortion, abortifacient, pregnancy, implantation, and especially personhood. If a zygote (fertilized egg) is not a person, then it has no fundamental rights and there is essentially no debate concerning the possible link between birth control pills and abortion. There is strong indirect evidence of post-fertilization, or abortive, effects of hormonal birth control. If zygotes are people, and birth …

Cosmetic Neurology: Enhancement Of The Mind And Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder Medication Abuse Among College Students, Mary M. Huff

Senior Honors Theses

Cosmetic neurology is becoming increasingly popular, and it is not just sleep deprived, over worked college students who are interested. People are beginning to seek off-label prescriptions for medications that are typically used to treat disorders such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) or narcolepsy, while researchers are trying to create drugs used solely for mind enhancement purposes. Along with these drugs come many legal and ethical quandaries relating to the regulation of current use as well as the what ifs of future possibilities. A survey was conducted among college students regarding the diagnosis of ADHD, the abuse of ADHD …

Prevention Of Mother-To-Child Transmission (Pmtct) Of Hiv In The Sub-Saharan Africa Region With A Focus On Uganda, Emily K. Franks

Senior Honors Theses

With the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the past thirty years, people of all ages, infants to elderly alike, all over the world, suffer from its adverse effects. Even an unborn baby in-utero can contract this virulent infection by means of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) (Sweeney, 2005). Infants and children diseased in this way comprise 90% of the estimated 800,000 new cases of HIV in children seen each year, but the region hit hardest, however, is Sub-Saharan Africa, with the country of Uganda historically having the highest incident rate for a time (Stringer, E.M., et al. 2008). Therefore, the purpose …