The Ethical Significance of Post-Vaccination COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics
AbstractThe potential for vaccines to prevent the spread of infectious diseases is crucial for vaccination policy and ethics. In this paper, I discuss recent evidence that the current COVID-19 vaccines have only a modest and short-lived effect on reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission and argue that this has at least four important ethical implications. First, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 should be seen primarily as a self-protective choice for individuals. Second, moral condemnation of unvaccinated people for causing direct harm to others is unjustified. Third, the case for a harm-based moral obligation to get vacci n...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 21, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Research into Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for Anorexia Nervosa Should be Funded
AbstractEating disorders are debilitating diseases that have twin impacts on the body and mind and are associated with a number of physiological and psychological comorbidities (Blinder, Cumella, and Sanathara2006; Casiero and Frishman2006), including increased suicide risk (Arcelus et al.2011; Lipson and Sonneville2020). In addition, eating disorders are growing in prevalence (Gilmache et al.2019) and impact women at much higher rates than men (Bearman, Martinez, and Stice2006), especially in adolescence (Spriggs, Kettner, and Carhart-Harris2021). Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a particularly devastating eating disorder, with o...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 19, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Should Cash Subsidy Be Offered to Family Caregivers for the Elderly? The Case of Hong Kong
AbstractHong Kong ’s Covid-19 epidemic circumstances have given us a valuable opportunity to reflect on Hong Kong’s elderly care policies. This essay argues that Hong Kong should learn from the West and provide a subsidy to family caregivers for proper elderly care. We rebut the social and moralistic reasons for not introducing such a subsidy in Hong Kong. We indicate that providing cash subsidy to family caregivers does not monetize or tarnish Confucian filial obligation to take care of elderly people, but enable adult children from low-income families to undertake this obligation effectively. In addition, we contend ...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 13, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Impossible Triangle Model of Pandemic Prevention and Control
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 12, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Maintaining Basic Social Ethics: Economic Man or Social Man?
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 12, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Counselling, Research Gaps, and Ethical Considerations Surrounding Pregnancy in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients
AbstractSurvival after solid-organ transplantation has improved significantly, and many contemporary transplant recipients are of childbearing potential. There are limited data to guide decision-making surrounding pregnancy after transplantation, variations in clinical practice, and significant knowledge gaps, all of which raise significant ethical issues. Post-transplant pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of maternal and fetal complic ations. Shared decision-making is a central aspect of patient counselling but is complicated by significant knowledge gaps. Stakeholder interests can be in conflict; explorin...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 6, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Lesser of Two Evils: Application of Maslahah-Mafsadah Criteria in Islamic Ethical-Legal Assessment of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes in Malaysia
AbstractThe release of over 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) into uninhabited Malaysian forests in 2010 was a frantic step on the part of the Malaysian government to combat the spread of dengue fever. The field trial was designed to control and reduce the dengue vector by producing offspring that die in the early developmental stage, thus decreasing the localAedes aegypti population below the dengue transmission threshold. However, the GMM trials were discontinued in Malaysia despite being technologically feasible. The lack of systematic studies in terms of cost-benefit analysis, questionable research efficacy a...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - November 9, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Diversity in German-speaking medical ethics and humanities
ConclusionsThere has been a significant push to address gender diversity in German-speaking academia, and this study finds overall good gender parity in medical ethics and humanities institutes. However, there has not been a similar openness to discussing issues of systemic racism or how other forms of inequality affect academic diversity. Taking diversity seriously requires opening up conversations around intersectionality, including difficult conversations around race and cultural background that have long been taboo in German-speaking countries. (Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - November 7, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Kin or Research Material? Exploring IVF Couples ’ Perceptions about the Human Embryo and Implications for Disposition Decisions in Norway
AbstractIn vitro fertilization (IVF) involves making embryos outside of the human body, which has spurred debate about the status of the embryo, embryo research and donation. We explore couples ’ perceptions about embryos and their thoughts and acceptability about various disposition decisions in Norway. Based on an ethnographic study including interviews and observations in an IVF clinic, we show that couples do not perceive their pre-implantation IVF embryos to be human lives; rather, they consider successful implantation the start of life. We suggest that this response indicates a change in the perception of the human...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - November 4, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Better Regulation of End-Of-Life Care: A Call For A Holistic Approach
This article proposes a response to address this, identifying “regulatory space” theory as a candidate to provide the much-needed holistic insight into improving regulation of end-of-life care. The article concludes with practical implications of this approach for regulators and researchers. (Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 17, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Victoria, Australia, is getting a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Bill
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - October 3, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Unexamined Benefits of the Expansive Legalization of Medical Assistance-in-Dying
AbstractIf you slide far enough down the slippery slope envisioned by opponents of medical assistance-in-dying (MAiD), you eventually land in a ghastly society with industrialized euthanasia, rampant suicide, and devalued life. But what if the slippery slope leads us somewhere better? This paper explores the benefits of eliminating nearly all MAiD prohibitions and regulations. We anticipate three positive effects for public health: 1. Expanded access to those currently not qualified from MAiD by removing ineffective access criteria; 2. Harm reduction by making MAiD safer and by rerouting suicidal patients into alternate ca...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 26, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Rereading Habermas in Times of CRISPR-cas: A Critique of and an Alternative to the Instrumentalist Interpretation of the Human Nature Argument
AbstractHabermas ’s argument from human nature, which speaks in favour of holding back the use of human germline editing for purposes of enhancement, has lately received criticism anew. Prominent are objections to its supposedly genetic essentialist and determinist framework, which underestimates social impacts on human development. I argue that this criticism originates from an instrumentalist reading of Habermas’s argument, which wrongly focuses on empirical conditions and means-ends-relations. Drawing on Habermas’s distinction of a threefold use of practical reason, I show how an alternative—the eth ical—readi...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 23, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Bioethical Implications of Vulnerability and Politics for Healthcare in Ethiopia and The Ways Forward
AbstractVulnerability and politics are among the relevant and key topics of discussion in the Ethiopian healthcare context. Attempts by the formal bioethics structure in Ethiopia to deliberate on ethical issues relating to vulnerability and politics in healthcare have been limited, even though the informal analysis of bioethical issues has been present in traditional Ethiopian communities. This is reflected in religion, social values, and local moral underpinnings. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the bioethical implications of vulnerability and politics for healthcare in Ethiopia and to suggest possible ways forw...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 22, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Expertise and Knowledge Required to Support Health Staff to Manage Stressful Events
(Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry)
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - September 22, 2022 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
