Diagnosing death: the “fuzzy area” between life and decomposition
AbstractThis paper aims to determine whether it is necessary to propose the extreme of putrefaction as the only unmistakable sign in diagnosing the death of the human organism, as David Oderberg does in a recent paper. To that end, we compare Oderberg ’s claims to those of other authors who align with him in espousing the so-called theory of hylomorphism but who defend either a neurological or a circulatory-respiratory criterion for death. We then establish which interpretation of biological phenomena is the most reasonable within the metaphysi cal framework of hylomorphism. In this regard, we hold that technology does not...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - April 1, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The concept of disease in the time of COVID-19
AbstractPhilosophers of medicine have formulated different accounts of the concept of disease. Which concept of disease one assumes has implications for what conditions count as diseases and, by extension, who may be regarded as having a disease (disease judgements) and for who may be accorded the social privileges and personal responsibilities associated with being sick (sickness judgements). In this article, we consider an ideal diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection with respect to four groups of people —positive and asymptomatic; positive and symptomatic; negative; and untested—and show h...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - February 16, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
What is a reasonable framework for new non-validated treatments?
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - February 14, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Nathan Carlin: Pastoral aesthetics: a theological perspective on principlist bioethics
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - February 12, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Vera Mackie, Nicola J. Marks, and Sarah Ferber (eds): The reproductive industry: intimate experiences and global processes
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - January 29, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Critical conversations at the crossroads
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - January 29, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The ethics of innovation for Alzheimer ’s disease: the risk of overstating evidence for metabolic enhancement protocols
AbstractMedical practice is ideally based on robust, relevant research. However, the lack of disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer ’s disease has motivated “innovative practice” to improve patients’ well-being despite insufficient evidence for the regular use of such interventions in health systems treating millions of patients. Innovative or new non-validated practice poses at least three distinct ethical questions: fi rst, about the responsible application of new non-validated practice to individual patients (clinical ethics); second, about the way in which data from new non-validated practice are communicat...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - January 18, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
What we talk about when we talk about pediatric suffering
AbstractIn this paper I aim to show why pediatric suffering must be understood as a judgment or evaluation, rather than a mental state. To accomplish this task, first I analyze the various ways that the label of suffering is used in pediatric practice. Out of this analysis emerge what I call the twin poles of pediatric suffering. At one pole sits the belief that infants and children with severe cognitive impairment cannot suffer because they are nonverbal or lack subjective life experience. At the other pole exists the idea that once child suffering reaches some threshold it is ethical to eliminate the sufferer. Concerning...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - January 5, 2021 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Valuing life and evaluating suffering in infants with life-limiting illness
AbstractIn this paper, we explore three separate questions that are relevant to assessing the prudential value of life in infants with severe life-limiting illness. First, what is the value or disvalue of a short life? Is it in the interests of a child to save her life if she will nevertheless die in infancy or very early childhood? Second, how does profound cognitive impairment affect the balance of positives and negatives in a child ’s future life? Third, if the life of a child with life-limiting illness is prolonged, how much suffering will she experience and can any of it be alleviated? Is there a risk that negative ...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 17, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Philosophical investigations into the essence of pediatric suffering
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 17, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Correction to: Whole-brain death and integration: realigning the ontological concept with clinical diagnostic tests
My article, “Whole-brain death and integration: Realigning the ontological concept with clinical diagnostic tests”. (Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 17, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Relational suffering and the moral authority of love and care
AbstractSuffering is a ubiquitous yet elusive concept in health care. In a field devoted to the pursuit of objective data, suffering is a phenomenon with deep ties to subjective experience, moral values, and cultural norms. Suffering ’s tie to subjective experience makes it challenging to discern and respond to the suffering of others. In particular, the question of whether a child with profound neurocognitive disabilities can suffer has generated a robust discourse, rooted in philosophical conceptualizations of personhood as well as the academic and experiential expertise of practiced health-care professionals. The issu...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Our suffering and the suffering of our time
(Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics)
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 7, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The ethics of innovation for Alzheimer ’s disease: the risk of overstating evidence for metabolic enhancement protocols
AbstractMedical practice is ideally based on robust, relevant research. However, the lack of disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer ’s disease has motivated “innovative practice” to improve patients’ well-being despite insufficient evidence for the regular use of such interventions in health systems treating millions of patients. Innovative or new non-validated practice poses at least three distinct ethical questions: fi rst, about the responsible application of new non-validated practice to individual patients (clinical ethics); second, about the way in which data from new non-validated practice are communicated via t...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - December 1, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The right to assistive technology
AbstractIn this paper, I argue that disabled people have a right to assistive technology (AT), but this right cannot be grounded simply in a broader right to health care or in a more comprehensive view like the capabilities approach to justice. Both of these options are plagued by issues that I refer to as theproblem of constriction, where the theory does not justify enough of the AT that disabled people should have access to, and theproblem of overextension, where the theory cannot adequately identify an upper limit on the AT that people have a right to. As an alternative to these justificatory frameworks, I argue that di...
Source: Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - October 5, 2020 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
