Correction: Pandemic Surveillance and Racialized Subpopulations: Mitigating Vulnerabilities in COVID-19 Apps
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 18, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
How Good is the Science That Informs Government Policy? A Lesson From the U.K. ’s Response to 2020 CoV-2 Outbreak
AbstractIn an era when public faith in politicians is dwindling, yet trust in scientists remains relatively high, governments are increasingly emphasizing the role of science based policy-making in response to challenges such as climate change and global pandemics. In this paper we question the quality of some scientific advice given to governments and the robustness and transparency of the entire framework which envelopes such advice, all of which raise serious ethical concerns. In particular we focus on the so-called Imperial Model which heavily influenced the government of the United Kingdom in devising its response to ...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 14, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Ecologies of Public Trust: The NHS COVID-19 Contact Tracing App
AbstractIn April 2020, close to the start of the first U.K. COVID-19 lockdown, the U.K. government announced the development of a COVID-19 contact tracing app, which was later trialled on the U.K. island, the Isle of Wight, in May/June 2020. United Kingdom surveys found general support for the development of such an app, which seemed strongly influenced by public trust. Institutions developing the app were called upon to fulfil the commitment to public trust by acting with trustworthiness. Such calls presuppose that public trust associated with the app can emerge if the conditions for trustworthiness are met and that publi...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 5, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Care for Language: Etymology as a Continental Argument in Bioethics
AbstractEmphasizing the importance of language is a key characteristic of philosophical reflection in general and of bioethics in particular. Rather than trying to eliminate the historicity and ambiguity of language, a continental approach to bioethics will make conscious use of it, for instance by closely studying the history of the key terms we employ in bioethical debates. Continental bioethics entails a focus on the historical vicissitudes of the key signifiers of the bioethical vocabulary, urging us to study the history of terms such as “bioethics,” “autonomy,” “privacy,” and “consensus.” Instead of tr...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 1, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Spousal and Kinship Co-Authorship Should be Declared to Avoid Conflicts of Interest
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 1, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Unmasking the Ethics of Public Health Messaging in a Pandemic
AbstractUncertainty is inherent in new and unexpected viral outbreaks such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. It imposes challenges for health officials in soliciting cooperative behavioural changes based on incomplete information. In this paper, we use evolving mask recommendations in the United States as an example to analyse the ethical importance and practical demonstration of trustworthiness in pandemic messaging and decision-making. We argue that responsible public health interventions in the time of uncertainties requires explicit intersecting ethical considerations both in action and in communication to promote trus...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 24, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
End-of-Life Decisions in Intensive Care Units in Croatia —Pre COVID-19 Perspectives and Experiences From Nurses and Physicians
AbstractHealthcare professionals working in intensive care units (ICUs) are often involved in end-of-life decision-making. No research has been done so far about these processes taking place in Croatian ICUs. The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions, experiences, and challenges healthcare professionals face when dealing with end-of-life decisions in ICUs in Croatia. A qualitative study was performed using professionally homogenous focus groups of ICU nurses and physicians (45 in total) of diverse professional and clinical backgrounds at three research sites (Zagreb, Rijeka, Split). In total, six institution...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 23, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Evolving Law: Further Developments Concerning MAID in Canada —Bill C-7 Receives Royal Assent and Revisiting Ethicon Sàrl
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 13, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Genealogy, Virality, and Potentiality: Moving Beyond Orientalism with COVID-19
AbstractStereotypes about exotic peoples and animals of the Orient shaped popular origin stories about COVID-19 in media reports. Outbreak narratives centred on the seafood market in Wuhan began to fall apart as new evidence was published by medical doctors, virologists, and epidemiologists. No viruses in bats or pangolins have been found that are direct ancestors of SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 symptoms. Viruses are also being transformed as they interact with the human institutions, infrastructures and behaviours that facilitate their spread. Epidemiological growth curves are shaped by national and forei...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 10, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Are Corporations Re-Defining Illness and Health? The Diabetes Epidemic, Goal Numbers, and Blockbuster Drugs
AbstractWhile pharmaceutical industry involvement in producing, interpreting, and regulating medical knowledge and practice is widely accepted and believed to promote medical innovation, industry-favouring biases may result in prioritizing corporate profit above public health. Using diabetes as our example, we review successive changes over forty years in screening, diagnosis, and treatment guidelines for type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, which have dramatically expanded the population prescribed diabetes drugs, generating a billion-dollar market. We argue that these guideline recommendations have emerged under pervasive in...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 6, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Emotion and COVID-19: Toward an Equitable Pandemic Response
This article discusses the ways in which healthcare professionals can use emotion as part of developing an ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Affect theory, a growing approach to inquiry in the social sciences and humanities that appraises the historical and cultural contexts of emotions as expressed through art and politics, offers a frame for clinicians and researchers to consider ethical questions that surround the reopening of the United States economy in the wake of COVID-19. This article uses affect theory to describe how healthcare workers ’ emotions are useful for formulating a reopening plan grounded in ...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - August 31, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Clinical Ethics Consultations in the Opinion of Polish Physicians
We present results of a survey of 521 physicians practising in Poland concerning their opinion on CECs and related practices. We analysed the data looking at such issues as CECs ’ perceived availability, use of CECs, and perceived usefulness of such support. Physicians in our study generally encounter hard ethics cases, even—surprisingly—those who do not work in hospitals. Most physicians have no CEC access, and those that do still do not employ CECs. However, physici ans perceive this form of support as useful—even more so among actual users of CECs. We compared these findings with similar studies from other Europ...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - August 16, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
An Ethics-Informed, Comparative Analysis of Uterus Transplantation and Gestational Surrogacy for Uterine Factor Infertility in High-Income Countries
AbstractInterest in the future, clinical implementation of uterus transplantation for uterine factor infertility was recently boosted by the demonstration of proof-of-concept for deceased uterus donation/transplantation. The ethical dimensions of living and deceased uterus transplantation are explored and addressed in the paper through their comparison to the ethical elements of an existing, legal, assisted reproduction practice in some high-income countries, i.e., gestational surrogacy. A set of six ethics lenses is used in the comparative analysis: reproductive autonomy and rights, informed choice/consent, relevant criti...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - August 12, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Granny-Export? The Morality of Sending People to Care Homes Abroad
AbstractMany higher-income countries are struggling to make decent and affordable care available to their older populations. In response, some Germans are sending their ageing relatives to relatively high-end care homes within Eastern Europe and South-East Asia where the care tends to be more comprehensive and a lot cheaper. At the same time, this practice has caused much controversy within Germany, with some commentators calling it “inhumane” and “shameful.” The aim of this article is to show that such criticisms are exaggerated. Whereas sending people to care homes in lower-income countriescan be immoral, I argue...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - August 10, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Goodbye Hippocrates?
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - July 29, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
