Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons^™

Under The Needle: Ergonomic Issues With Lethal Injection Protocols, Gabriella Hancock

Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference

The institution of capital punishment represents one of the most contentious issues affecting societies today; and while the practice is only implemented in 58 countries, the controversy affects the world at large as over 60% of the human population lives in nations that condone the death penalty (Hali, 2015). In the United States, people who support capital punishment believe the practice to be an effective crime deterrent for potential criminals and therefore a prospective protective measure for law abiding citizens. Moreover, advocates defend their position by forwarding the argument that executions are ‘humane’; that use of lethal injection ensures that …

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Spring 2016

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Law & Healthcare Newsletter, Vol. 23, No. 2, Spring 2016

Law & Health Care Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Is Proxy Consent For An Invasive Procedure On A Patient With Intellectual Disabilities Ethically Sufficient?, Sonya Charles, Stephen Corey, Peter Bulova

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Germans And Their Nazi Past: To What Extent Have They Accepted Responsibility?, Martin Hille

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Women’S Access To Acute Opioid Detoxification Services In Maine: Identifying The Barriers To Treatment, Karen E. Conley

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The lack of treatment facilities and services for opioid use disorder in Maine, combined with an increased prevalence of addiction, creates a potential for health inequity between men and women that may be intensified by barriers in access to care. This capstone study utilized detoxification screening inquiry forms and data obtained from the Milestone Foundation’s acute opioid detoxification program to assess and categorize barriers to access by gender. A barriers model was developed based on existing literature and was to identify potential associations among and between the known barriers to accessing treatment. Barriers were described as internally or externally based, …

Medical Therapy For Inappropriate Sexual Behaviors In A Teen With Autism Spectrum Disorder., Loyal Coshway, Julia Broussard, Kruti Acharya, Karen Fried, Michael E. Msall, John Lantos, Leena Nahata

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Teens with autism spectrum disorder often exhibit sexual behaviors in public that are disturbing to parents, teachers, and peers. Some have proposed that such behaviors can be curtailed with hormonal suppression. There is information on the Internet suggesting that such medications work, and some reports in the peer-reviewed medical literature support these claims. Such medications can have serious side effects. In this paper, we present a case in which parents requested such treatment of their teenage son with autism spectrum disorder.

Considering Decision-Making And Sexuality In Menstrual Suppression Of Teens And Young Adults With Intellectual Disabilities., Kruti Acharya, John D. Lantos

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Animal Research: A Survey Of The Public And Scientists In North America, Ari R. Joffe, Meredith Bara, Natalie Anton, Nathan Nobis

Morality and Ethics of Animal Experimentation Collection

Background: To determine whether the public and scientists consider common arguments (and counterarguments) in support (or not) of animal research (AR) convincing.

Methods: After validation, the survey was sent to samples of public (Sampling Survey International (SSI; Canadian), Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT; US), a Canadian city festival and children’s hospital), medical students (two second-year classes), and scientists (corresponding authors, and academic pediatricians). We presented questions about common arguments (with their counterarguments) to justify the moral permissibility (or not) of AR. Responses were compared using Chi-square with Bonferonni correction.

Results: There were 1220 public [SSI, n = 586; AMT, n = …

This Medication May Kill You: Cognitive Overload And Forced Commercial Speech, Devin S. Schindler, Tracey Brame

Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown

The Federal Government requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide prospective customers with an extraordinary amount of information. Justified under the doctrine of informed consent, the Food and Drug Administration has imposed comprehensive guidelines that regulate virtually every aspect of how medications can be marketed. Similar obligations are imposed on physicians involved in biomedical research.

Although informed consent is a cornerstone to the ethical practice of medicine, recent studies employing fMRI technology suggest that mandated disclosure of “too much” information can result in cognitive overload and irrational decision making. The paradoxical effect of the mandated disclosure requirements is that they likely lead …

Can The Principle Of Procreative Beneficence Justify The Non-Medical Use Of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis?, Biplab Kumar Haldar

Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown

The Principle of Procreative Beneficence (PB) is a pronatal view in reproductive ethics which was originally formulated by Julian Savulescu in his paper “Procreative Beneficence: Why We Should Select the Best Children”. Further development of the principle was done in another paper titled “The Moral Obligation to Create Children with the Best Chance of the Best Life” in collaboration with Guy Kahane. The principle states that the parents have a moral obligation to select the best possible child, when selection is possible, by means of the genetic screening of the embryos. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is a reproductive technology that …

Just Caring: Parsimonious Care In Certain Uncertain Circumstances, Leonard M. Fleck

Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown

Uncertainty is a Hydra-headed phenomenon in health care. From a physician’s perspective there often is uncertainty (many degrees) with respect to diagnosis (and the reliability of the technologies needed to establish a diagnosis), prognosis (and the infinite variety of genetic, physiological, pharmacological, behavioral, technological, economic, and cultural factors that affect the outcome of prognostic judgments), the appropriateness of a therapeutic intervention (perhaps related to medical disagreement), the likely effectiveness of a therapeutic intervention, the risk/ benefit ratio of a therapeutic intervention (potentially complicated by co-morbid conditions), the likelihood of a patient complying with the behaviors needed to maximize the likelihood …

Bioethics: Preparing For The Unknown- Abstracts, The Center For The Study Of Ethics In Society, Western Michigan University

Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown

Abstracts from the March 17-18, 2016 conference on Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown. This was the 30th anniversary conference for The Center for the Study of Ethics in Society at Western Michigan University.

Does Environmental Enrichment Promote Recovery From Stress In Rainbow Trout?, Kieran C. Pounder, Jennifer L. Mitchell, Jack S. Thomson, Tom G. Pottinger, Jonathan Buckley, Lynne U. Sneddon

Experimental Research and Animal Welfare Collection

The EU Directive on animal experimentation suggests that all protected animals should have enrichment to improve welfare yet relatively little research has been conducted on the impact of enrichment in fish. Studies employing enrichment in zebrafish have been contradictory and all fish species should be provided with species-specific enrichments relevant to their ecology. Salmonids are important experimental models in studies within aquaculture, toxicology and natural ecosystems. This study therefore sought to establish whether an enriched environment in an experimental aquarium may promote improved welfare in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by enhancing their recovery from invasive procedures. Trout were …

Bioethics: Preparing For The Unknown - Conference Program, The Center For The Study Of Ethics In Society Western Michigan University

Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown

On March 17-18, 2016 at Western Michigan University a conference was held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the WMU Ethics Center. The conference was on Bioethics: Preparing for the Unknown and this is the conference program.

Is Whole-Exome Sequencing An Ethically Disruptive Technology? Perspectives Of Pediatric Oncologists And Parents Of Pediatric Patients With Solid Tumors, Laurence B Mccullough, Melody J Slashinski, Amy L Mcguire, Richard L Street, Christine M Eng, Richard A Gibbs, D William Parsons, Sharon E Plon

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: It has been anticipated that physician and parents will be ill prepared or unprepared for the clinical introduction of genome sequencing, making it ethically disruptive.

PROCEDURE: As a part of the Baylor Advancing Sequencing in Childhood Cancer Care study, we conducted semistructured interviews with 16 pediatric oncologists and 40 parents of pediatric patients with cancer prior to the return of sequencing results. We elicited expectations and attitudes concerning the impact of sequencing on clinical decision making, clinical utility, and treatment expectations from both groups. Using accepted methods of qualitative research to analyze interview transcripts, we completed a thematic analysis …

Defining Quality In Medical Practice, Nicholas E. Boggs

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

We need physicians who are willing to participate in creating the standard of care, and to hold insurance companies accountable for real evidence-based quality markers. Only then will patients receive adequate care and we as educators in medicine be able to adequately teach the next generation of physicians.

Stepping Into And Out Of The Void: Funding Dynamics Of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research In California, Sweden, And South Korea, Noomi Weinryb, Tania M. Bubela

Office of the Provost

Nonprofit organizations and philanthropists stepped into a funding void caused by controversies over public funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. Based on interviews of 83 representatives of 53 funders, we examine the motivations and accountability structures of public agencies, corporations, fundraising dependent nonprofit organizations and philanthropic organizations that funded hESC research in three jurisdictions: California, Sweden, and South Korea. While non-traditional forms of funding are essential in the early stages of research advancement, they are unreliable for the long timeframes necessary to advance cell therapies. Such funding sources may enter the field based on high expectations, but may …

Tough Decisions For Premature Triplets., Ashley Hurst, Scott And Emily (Parents), Brooke D. Vergales, Alix Paget-Brown, Mark Mercurio, John Lantos

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

When infants are born at the borderline of viability, doctors and parents have to make tough decisions about whether to institute intensive care or provide only palliative care. Often, these decisions are made in moments of profound emotional turmoil, and parents receive different information from different health professionals. Communication can become garbled. It may be difficult to tell when and whether the patient's clinical condition has changed enough so that certain choices that had once been permissible become impermissible. In this "Ethics Rounds," we present a case of triplets born at the borderline of viability. We sought comments from the …

Physician Assisted Dying: A Turning Point?, Lawrence O. Gostin, Anna E. Roberts

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Physician Assisted Dying (PAD) has been lawful in some countries since the 1940s and in the United States since 1997. There is a body of social and scientific research that has focused on whether the practice has been misused and whether gaps exist in legislative safeguards. There are multiple concerns with physicians assisting patients to die: incompatibility with the physician’s role as a healer, devaluation of human life, coercion of vulnerable individuals (e.g., the poor and disabled), and the risk that PAD will be used beyond a narrow group of terminally ill individuals. Statutes in the United States have been …