Ethical Quandaries Research Articles

A framework for managing ethics in data science projects

AbstractThe field of data ethics is concerned with the ethical considerations surrounding data, algorithms, and associated practices, with the aim of identifying ethical solutions. The application of ethical principles to the handling of data, algorithms, and practices can facilitate the identification and delineation of ethical quandaries within the domain of data science. The present study focuses on the topic of data ethics, specifically pertaining to the processes of data collection, data model construction, evaluation, and deployment. This study introduces a comprehensive framework designed to facilitate the management of ethical considerations in data science projects. In order to authenticate the framework, a case study was conducted and our perspectives on its practical implementation were presented. The description of the scope of future research is also provided.

The Right to Refuse: Understanding Healthcare Providers' Perspectives on Patient Autonomy in Emergency Care.

Healthcare providers in prehospital care and emergency departments are often at the frontline of medical crises, facing a range of ethical dilemmas, particularly when it comes to patients refusing treatment. This study aimed to delve into the attitudes of these providers toward treatment refusal, unearthing the strategies they employ in navigating such challenging situations while actively working in prehospital emergency health services. Our findings showed that, as the participants' age and experience increased, so did their inclination to respect patient autonomy and avoid persuading them to change their decision about treatment. It was noted that doctors, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians demonstrated a deeper understanding of patients' rights than other medical specialists. However, even with this understanding, the prioritization of patients' rights tended to diminish in life-threatening situations, giving rise to ethical dilemmas. This underlines the complexity of balancing the healthcare professionals' responsibilities and the patients' autonomy, which can generate ethically challenging scenarios for those working in emergency healthcare. By investigating these attitudes and experiences, this study seeks to foster a more profound understanding of the ethical quandaries faced by emergency healthcare providers. Our ultimate aim is to contribute to the development of effective strategies that support both patients and professionals in managing these tough circumstances.

Resolving the Ethical Tension Between Creating a Civil Environment and Facilitating Free Expression Online: Comment Reordering as an Alternative to Comment Moderation

Incivility in online commenting sections can create a hostile environment and result in the silencing of vulnerable voices. Accordingly, content websites and social media platforms have an ethical responsibility—one that aligns with their strategic interests—to minimize users' exposure to uncivil content. To this end, platforms invest great effort and budget in automatic and manual filtering mechanisms. Yet, these efforts create a competing ethical quandary, as they often come at the expense of free expression, particularly in cases where comments do not explicitly infringe on stated guidelines but might nevertheless be interpreted as offensive. In this paper, we examine an alternative moderation approach, based on comment reordering as opposed to deletion of uncivil comments. Specifically, we show that exposure to uncivil (vs. civil) comments located in the head or at the bottom of a list of comments increases subsequent commenters' likelihood of posting uncivil comments themselves. Exposure to uncivil comments in the middle of a list, however, does not significantly enhance commenters' likelihood of commenting uncivilly. These results offer new theoretical insight into how incivility is transferred between users in online environments. Our results also suggest a straightforward technological solution for mitigating online incivility, which is more ethical and practical than current industry standards. This involves placing civil comments at the beginning and end of the comment thread, with uncivil comments located in the middle.

Ethics and Politics of Induced Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life

This research work argues that induced abortion as a means of birth control is morally unacceptable. Although, the question of abortion is being considered as a means of birth control but this position not only has generated much controversy from antiquity to the postmodern era, it has also politicized many democratic societies. Proponents of induced abortion couch it in terms of gender equality and human right of women to choose or what to do in matters that their body. This too has presented us with political and ethical quandary. The problematic as conceptualized in the title is embedded in moral questions implied in these questions, among others, regarding the morality of induced abortion and the politicization of the ethical question. What makes one’s choice right or wrong? Is it one’s choice that makes an act right? Isn’t it first, that an act is judged right according to certain ethical norms that makes the action morally justified? Thus, some ethicists and pro-abortion advocates argue first, that the fetus is mere potency in the act of becoming human, and can be terminated at no moral consequence; secondly, that a woman has the right terminate the fetus as means of birth control. The researchers adopted the qualitative research design and used the expository, critical and analytic methods in the study to bring to the fore the crux of the matter. Major ethical theories are explored, critical questions raised and moral implications of exponents’ views exposed. The researchers came up with the conclusion that though human life is inviolable, even that of the unborn child. However, applying the Catholic Church’s moral teaching on the principle of double effect, the work avers that there could be extenuating circumstances, when induced abortion can be indirectly willed, such as in the case of treatment of a cancerous uterus, ectopic pregnancy, etc. Contrarily, it is the position of the researchers that politicizing abortion on the ground of the wellbeing of the couple, the human right of the pregnant woman to choose, for political capitals, or for eugenics reasons is intrinsically evil and thus acceptable. Politicizing induced abortion as a means of birth control has far reaching implications on ethics and the dignity of life. The paper strongly recommends that concerted efforts be put in place for educating married couples on the ethical implications of human sexuality. In this direction those in government should synergize with the Catholic Church’s magisterium on this issue and enact laws that protect the rights of the unborn child.

Charting success for the Plastics Treaty

Charting success for the Plastics Treaty

Ethical quandaries at end of life: Navigating real-world case examples as a pediatric psychologist.

Ethical quandaries at end of life: Navigating real-world case examples as a pediatric psychologist.

Comparison of lung cancer clinical trials treatment options and standard practice in Brazilian national health system over the last decade.

e18678 Background: New cancer drugs for metastatic non-small cell (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) have been approved worldwide in the past decade, but expensive pricing has led to unequal access. Despite being categorized as an upper-middle income country, Brazil's public health system is underfunded and has faced difficulties in incorporating new cancer treatments, which is concerning as two-thirds of the population depend on the public health system for their cancer-related medical needs. We hypothesized that the disparity between the standard of care (SOC) provided in developed nations and the prevailing practices in Brazil's public healthcare system is widening. Methods: We conducted a search of the ClinicalTrials.gov database from January 1st, 2012 to December 31th, 2021, for all phase III clinical trials on metastatic lung cancer that had at least one clinical site located in Brazil. We collected data on the experimental arm therapies, planned outcomes, and control arm therapies (used as a proxy for the standard of care worldwide). We then compared the control-arm drug therapy at the trial's start date with the standard practice for lung cancer in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) at that time, using available governmental protocols on lung cancer (PCDT) and recent approvals from the technology health assessment committee (CONITEC). Additionally, we assessed the potential eligibility of patients treating in SUS for second-line therapy trials based on prior required treatments to trial enrollment. We analyzed two time periods: 2012-2016 and 2017-2021. Results: Out of 86 screened trials, 64 were included. 86% of them were on NSCLC, and 67% on first-line settings. Almost half had a biomarker inclusion criterion for enrollment. Immunotherapy was studied most frequently (52%), followed by targeted therapies (36%) and antibody-conjugate drugs (ADC) (9.4%). PD(L)1 was the target of 33% of drug therapies. Compared to 2012-2017, in the 2018-2021 period we observed an increase in available clinical trials (24 vs 40) with similar rates of NSCLC (83% vs. 88%, p = 0.7) and first-line therapies (68 vs 67%, p > 0.9). The proportion of trials with control group therapies better than the standard practice available at the time increased from 8.3% to 38% in the recent time-period (p = 0.011). Among second-line therapy trials, the proportion of trials with mandatory previous therapy unavailable in SUS rose numerically from 12% to 54% (p = 0.085). Conclusions: While the number of trials increased over time, there was a rising proportion of control group therapies better than available standard practice in Brazil. The widening difference between drug therapies in clinical trials and standard cancer treatments creates difficult ethical quandaries for oncologists enrolling patients, and also impacts patient eligibility in advanced settings.

Doctor Faustus Redux: Deepfake Technology, Sociological Disruption of True Knowledge, and the Moral Crisis Facing Our Generation

The development of deepfake technology resulted in a new era of societal disruption, which has sparked significant challenges regarding the nature of genuine knowledge and the ethical predicament that our generation is currently confronting. This article explores the ramifications of deepfake in contemporary society and draws its motivation from the well-known novel of Doctor Faustus. Deepfake, also known as artificial intelligence-generated altered media, present a substantial risk to the veracity of information, as well as an opportunity to warp perceptions of reality and erode trust. This article sheds light on the ethical conundrums that result from the manipulation of information by investigating the influence that deepfake has had on a variety of disciplines. The paper highlights the critical need for ethical awareness, legislative frameworks, media literacy, and technology breakthroughs to offset the detrimental consequences of deepfakes. We will only be able to successfully negotiate the treacherous junction of technology, knowledge, and morality if we work together to do so. Then only will we be able to safeguard the veracity of knowledge and preserve the foundations of an equitable and enlightened society.

The Impact of artificial intelligence and automation on businesses processes and employment: An analytical study

The ramifications of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation on commercial processes and employment have been extensively deliberated in scholarly literature. The assimilation of these technologies has engendered enhanced efficiency, amplified productivity, and curtailed expenses for enterprises. Nevertheless, the literature also illuminates the potential for job displacement, modifications in the character of labour, and ethical quandaries. Several studies have examined the impact of AI and automation on specific industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, and finance. The literature suggests that these technologies have the potential to disrupt these industries and change the skill requirements for workers. The literature also highlights the need for businesses to adapt and upskill their workforce to remain competitive in an increasingly automated environment. The importance of developing ethical guidelines for the use of AI and automation has also been emphasized in the literature.

Psychological Problem Diagnosis and Management in the Geriatric Age Group.

The definition of geriatrics is very complex to explain though it can be written asthe treatment and care provided by healthcare and medical systems primarily to more venerable and senior citizens groupof the population. The age group considered to be entering the old group is believed to be those who have reached their sixth decade of life. However, most of the global geriatric population doesn't need treatment until their seventh decade. Bodily impairment, both physicaland mental, due to various reasons, for example, financial or personal reasons or feeling ignored, is reasonable for clinicians to anticipate caring for a growing proportion of older patients with complicated medical and psychosocial concerns. Complex ethical quandaries could develop as a result of these difficulties and problems. Who should anticipate ethical challenges faced by doctors early during management? We offer practical recommendations for improving communication because ineffective patient-clinician communication might result in moral dilemmas. Physical impairment, hopelessness, and cognitive decline are all more prevalent as people age. Politicians and healthcare providersof nations should step in to search for a measure to reduce the uprising of the condition; otherwise, it will lead to an uprising of the cases in an exponential manner.It is necessary to increase the financial challenges faced by the elderly. In addition, awareness should be increased, as well as programs aimed at enhancing their standard of living.

State data security backed by Artificial Intelligence and Zero Knowledge Proofs in the context of sanctions and economic pressure

This research paper aims to elucidate the intricate relationship between artificial intelligence (AI), state data security, and the volatile circumstances induced by sanctions and economic pressure. By undertaking a comprehensive literature review, the study not only offers a historical context of state data security mechanisms but also delves deeply into the advancements provided by AI-driven solutions. The work serves as a crucial reference for policymakers, cybersecurity experts, and academic researchers, laying a foundation for the nuanced understanding of AI’s capabilities and limitations within the realms of state data security and economic stressors. Employing an analytical framework, the paper systematically distills knowledge from a wide array of sources, including academic articles, technical reports, policy briefs, and international standards. This multidimensional analysis allows for a holistic understanding of the state-of-the-art AI technologies, their applicability in fortifying state data security, and the ethical labyrinth that states must navigate. Paper underscores a multitude of challenges and ethical considerations that are often overshadowed by the technological prowess of AI. These encompass issues such as data privacy infringement, potential for mass surveillance, and ethical quandaries around bias and discrimination. The paper also throws light on the pivotal factors of accountability and transparency, essential for maintaining public trust in AI-augmented state security mechanisms. The study raises awareness about AI-driven cyber threats, focusing on the paradox of employing AI to enhance security while also becoming susceptible to advanced AI-driven cyberattacks. Paper addresses the long-term sustainability and resilience of AI-enabled security measures, particularly in the context of evolving cyber threats and the inherent instability brought about by economic pressures and sanctions. The resilience of AI algorithms and systems under these specific conditions is scrutinized, offering a forward-looking perspective on the adaptability and robustness of AI technologies in safeguarding state data.

The Walking Class of India and English after COVID-19

Abstract While students discovered that the elite civic conscience served to render the Indian “migrant workers” invisible, they felt that a discursive correctness of terms called for debate. This article records their overwhelming sense of ethical quandary as others and othering gained traction in classrooms where English at once endorsed and condemned such usages.

Ethics and frontline nursing during COVID-19: A qualitative analysis.

Nurses experienced intense ethical and moral challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our 2020 qualitative parent study of frontline nurses' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic identified ethics as a cross-cutting theme with six subthemes: moral dilemmas, moral uncertainty, moral distress, moral injury, moral outrage, and moral courage. We re-analyzed ethics-related findings in light of refined definitions of ethics concepts. To analyze frontline U.S. nurses' experiences of ethics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative analysis using a directed content methodology. The study included 43 nurses from three major metropolitan academic medical centers and one community hospital in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, midwestern, and western United States. Participant privacy and data confidentiality were addressed. Moral dilemmas arose from many situations, most frequently related to balancing safety and patient care. Moral uncertainty commonly arose from lacking health information or evidence about options. Moral distress occurred when nurses knew the right thing to do, but were prevented from doing so, including with end-of-life issues. Moral injury (accompanied by suffering, shame, or guilt) occurred after doing, seeing, or experiencing wrongdoing, often involving authority figures. Nurses expressed moral outrage at events and people within and outside healthcare. Despite difficult ethical situations, some nurses exemplified moral courage, sometimes by resisting policies they perceived as preventing compassionate care, guided by thinking about what was best for patients. This content analysis of ethics-related subthemes revealed conceptual characteristics and clarified distinctions with corresponding exemplars. Conceptual clarity may inform responses and interventions to address ethical quandaries in nursing practice. Ethics education in nursing must address the moral dilemmas of pandemics, disasters, and other crises. Nurses need time and resources to heal from trying to provide the best care when no ideal option was available.

Love Your Patient as Yourself: On Reviving the Broken Heart of American Medical Ethics.

This article presents a radical claim: American medical ethics is broken, and it needs love to be healed. Due to a unique set of cultural and economic pressures, American medical ethics has adopted a mechanistic mode of ethical reasoning epitomized by the doctrine of principlism. This mode of reasoning divorces clinicians from both their patients and themselves. This results in clinicians who can ace ethics questions on multiple-choice tests but who fail either to recognize a patient's humanity or to navigate the ethical quandaries into which they are frequently thrown. Drawing on personal experience as well as the philosophical work of Augustine of Hippo, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch, we propose a novel ethical approach grounded in a conception of neighbor love, specifically, the virtue of love understood as attention to a sufferer's humanity. We conclude with five practical recommendations for reimagining medical ethics education oriented around the virtue of love.

Working with Patience: An Insight into Dealing with Difficult Emotions

Working with Patience:An Insight into Dealing with Difficult Emotions David Vilanova As the most trusted professionals in the nation, nurses are expected to care for their patients with empathy and freedom from bias. The reality is that nurses are human, and some form of implicit bias is inevitable. In my own experience, this issue has reared its head on several occasions. My nursing background is prominently in cardiac and intensive care. Seeing patients at their most vulnerable has become a regular part of my practice. Among some of the most challenging cases for me have been when I assume care of a patient withdrawing from alcohol. As an adult child with close alcoholic family members, many instances of abuse and pain stick with me today and these are brought to the surface when I care for patients with alcohol use disorder. In most cases, I easily find a healthy balance between remaining an understanding-and-empathetic provider and protecting my emotional and mental health as I navigate ethical and moral issues. However, with this patient population, walking that fine line is especially challenging. How do I navigate and manage intensely personal emotions and biases while providing the high-quality care I vowed to deliver regardless of my patient's life choices, addictions, and illnesses? How do I maintain an appropriate level of neutrality and clarity as this patient's behavior and attitude spark emotional triggers? In other words, how do I take care of someone I don't like? Mrs. H was a middle-aged Hispanic woman, barely coherent, but speaking clearly enough that I could understand her slurred speech. Immediate dread washed over me as I realized my assignment included a patient withdrawing from alcohol. The patient's affect, incoherence, and aggression were all too reminiscent of a traumatic past I still work to heal from. My coworkers couldn't understand her insults and obscenities and were therefore unphased except for noting her unruly and erratic behavior. On the other hand, I could understand much of what she was yelling at me and any other staff who bravely walked into her room. My immediate thoughts were that this woman clearly did not want our help. My every attempt to enter her room, speak with her, and provide care were met with an all too familiar rejection and denial that she even had a problem. Yet here she was in a hospital room, and I was her nurse. She verbalized denial of drinking too much when told that she was being treated for alcohol withdrawal. She stated this denial more to herself than to the health care providers in the room, and it was reminiscent of the denial I have seen in my loved ones. This was ironic, I always thought, as the need for such self-deception in and of itself points to the fact that something may be wrong and worth addressing. But denial or not, today, this patient—Mrs. H, was entrusted into my care. She refused treatments and medications, and this put me in a complex ethical predicament—treating a patient that I do not like for the personal issues she reminds me of, and the treatment of a patient against their refusal, as she was deemed incapable of making her own decisions. The latter of these two issues was easiest to put aside. Legally, this patient needed to be treated through her alcohol withdrawal. Once her mental status cleared up, she could sign out against medical advice or choose to remain until a safe discharge plan was in place. There was a protocol and legal guidelines for this situation. However, no guidelines [End Page 10] truly exist when it comes to the management of a patient that you simply do not like. The result can be a near-instantaneous dread each time you must answer that patient's bed alarm, call light, or most basic needs. A negative bias takes over, and it would be an understatement to say that this affects the quality of care. Patients in situations like this—with providers who judge them as I have been guilty of—can easily become subject to derogatory remarks, health inequities, and biased labeling...

Contemplating the Impacts of Canadian Healthcare Institutions That Refuse to Provide Medical Assistance in Dying: A Framework-Based Discussion of Potential Health Access Implications.

Following the historic Canadian legislation on medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in 2016, many implementation challenges and ethical quandaries have formed the focus of further scholarly investigation and policy revisions. Of these, conscientious objections held by some healthcare institutions have involved relatively less scrutiny, despite indicating possible hurdles to the universal availability of MAiD services in Canada. In this paper, we contemplate potential accessibility concerns that pertain specifically to service access, with the hope to trigger further systematic research and policy analysis on this frequently overlooked aspect of MAiD implementation. We organize our discussion using two important health access frameworks: Levesque and colleagues' Conceptual Framework for Access to Health and the Provisional Framework for MAiD System Information Needs (Canadian Institute for Health Information). Our discussion is organized along five framework dimensions through which institutional non-participation may generate or exacerbate inequities in MAiD utilization. Considerable overlaps are revealed across framework domains, indicating the complexity of the problem and the need for further investigation. Conscientious dissensions on the part of healthcare institutions form a likely barrier to ethical, equitable, and patient-oriented MAiD service provision. Comprehensive, systematic evidence is urgently needed to understand the nature and scope of resulting impacts. We urge Canadian healthcare professionals, policymakers, ethicists, and legislators to attend to this crucial issue in future research and in policy discussions.

Human Cloning: Biology, Ethics, and Social Implications.

This scholarly article delves into the multifaceted domains of human cloning, encompassing its biological underpinnings, ethical dimensions, and broader societal implications. The exposition commences with a succinct historical and contextual overview of human cloning, segueing into an in-depth exploration of its biological intri-cacies. Central to this biological scrutiny is a comprehensive analysis of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) and its assorted iterations. The accomplishments and discoveries in cloning technology, such as successful animal cloning operations and advances in the efficiency and viability of cloned embryos, are reviewed. Future improvements, such as reprogramming procedures and gene editing technology, are also discussed. The discourse extends to ethical quandaries intrinsic to human cloning, entailing an extensive contemplation of values such as human dignity, autonomy, and safety. Furthermore, the ramifications of human cloning on a societal plane are subjected to scrutiny, with a dedicated emphasis on ramifications encompassing personal identity, kinship connections, and the fundamental notion of maternity. Culminating the analysis is a reiteration of the imperative to develop and govern human cloning technology judiciously and conscientiously. Finally, it discusses several ethical and practical issues, such as safety concerns, the possibility of exploitation, and the erosion of human dignity, and emphasizes the significance of carefully considering these issues.

McDonald’s in the Middle East: Navigating Political and Ethical Minefields

McDonald’s, the renowned American fast-food giant, views the Middle East as an immensely promising market, yet one that presents formidable challenges. McDonald’s experienced the complexity of this region firsthand when its Middle East franchises became embroiled in a public dispute over the divisive and emotionally charged Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This case study explores McDonald’s political and ethical predicaments in the Middle East, examining the underlying causes of the backlash, dissecting the dynamics between franchisees and franchisors, and providing some potential remedies.

Stem cell therapy: An emerging hope in regenerative medicine

In recent years, a new revolutionary giant has developed which gives high hopes, promises and proficient scientific study area is Stem cell therapy. Recent research showing the effective application of stem cell therapies to patients has enriched the hope that such regeneration methods may one day become a remedy for a variety of difficult ailments. In the past few years, clinical trials in which stem cell therapies are involved have raised pretty exponentially. Some of these trials had a notable influence on a number of ailments, such as neurological disorders, pulmonary dysfunctions, diseases related to metabolism and the endocrine system, disorders of reproduction, skin burns, and cardiovascular conditions. Although mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been put to use clinically to treat autoimmune and chronic inflammatory illnesses, concerns about the field of regenerative medicine remain due to their ability to endorse cancer growth and metastasis as well as their overstated therapeutic potential. The most significant obstacle to the development of hESC-based therapeutic medicines is an ethical quandary involving the killing of a human embryo. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which were first developed to address this problem, have since been proven to be effective, although there are still lingering concerns regarding their efficacy for use in medicine. The unwanted differentiation and cancerous transformation are significant safety concerns, iPSCs can be employed for human reproductive cloning, however, their limitless differentiation efficiency raises concerns about the possibility of producing genetically altered human embryos and human-animal chimeras. The issue is contentious because some people claim it goes against nature, yet nature herself gives an opportunity that opens a new avenue for people who suffer from untreated ailments and disorders.

Shifting digital media ecologies and how copyright law should adjust and adapt to journalism

Digital Age misappropriation and plagiarism of published online news content by some South African media proprietors are negatively affecting professionalism and integrity in journalism. Such infringements invariably lead to great tension, harmful competition patterns and dwindling revenues. Frequently, digital news misappropriation creates factual distortions, impairing the democratic functions of journalism and healthy national discourse motivated by legitimate public interest considerations. A 2019 Reuters Institute Digital News Report revealed that, globally, South Africans spend the greatest number of hours browsing online, with 36% of the population enjoying sharing news content, while 40% enjoy commenting on news via social media or news websites. While the Digital Age has generated many forms of active players in journalism, this paper is limited to digital infringement conflicts and contestations between accountable and established media proprietors or competitors. This qualitative contribution proposes that media proprietors collectively seek an alternative dispute resolution approach to copyright infringements through a comprehensive ‘Media Arbitration Copyright Infringements Code’ with incorporated ‘Hot News Misappropriation Doctrine’ provisions to regulate the conduct of the media and to address proliferating digital infringements. The Media Code should also guide the proposed ‘Media Copyright Tribunal’ operating within a commercial arbitration framework in dispute adjudication and resolution. This paper argues that the Media Code with the Misappropriation Doctrine is a more viable approach for addressing media copyright disputes because it largely protects facts contained in published news content. Furthermore, a Media Code that is drafted addressing media copyright digital infractions using the ethical benchmarks set by the ‘Press Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media’ editorial guidelines interpreted through a flexible informal commercial arbitration framework that expedites dispute resolution is desirable. This paper is largely concerned with the court’s findings in Moneyweb (Pty) Limited v Media 4 Limited and Another, and the fact that it took about three years for the dispute to be resolved. Moreover, this paper argues that the current Copyright Act 98 of 1978 is less effective in dealing with the ethical quandary faced by journalism in the Digital Age.