Field Of Bioethics Research Articles

Ethical principles for ecology and environmental ethics: What ecology can learn about applied ethics from biomedical ethics

AbstractThis article uses a familiar and successful framework to organize and systematize the ethics of ecology and environmental science. Mid‐level principles have helped make the field of bioethics well understood and enabled it to influence laws, policies, and clinical decision‐making. We propose that a new set of principles could do the same for the larger field of environmental ethics. As was true with bioethics, the principles chosen need to already be well‐established. The insight is that to offer a complete analysis of a case or situation one must consider all of the principles. Thus one must choose a small set of mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive principles. While there are thousands of articles using each of our principles, no one has identified them as a set of principles that can be easily taught and used to resolve dilemmas. Thus this article can help advance ecological and environmental ethics. Each of the four principles is briefly defined, and a little of their history and some current examples provided for each. The principles are: The Precautionary Principle, Biodiversity, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability. As a group they represent a complete picture of the ethical territory we must deal with in every value‐laden choice, clarifying why disagreements happen and what is at stake when trade‐offs must be made.

Future Lives and Deaths with Purpose: Perspectives on Capacity, Character, and Intent

Abstract The articles in this issue of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy explore emerging technologies, medical innovations, and shifting moral norms, expanding present discussions around topics in bioethics both old and new. Some question whether novel definitions of death and harm change the moral permissibility of killing, particularly at the hands of a physician. Others question how increased or decreased abilities affect responsibility and achievement. Another illustrates how rhetorical appeals to character have been used to justify otherwise morally illicit actions within the clinic. Together, these articles shed new light on topics in the field of bioethics.

Interpretation of Euthanasia in the Buddhist Worldview

Religious interpretations of the moral aspect of euthanasia arouse serious scholarly interest in the problematic field of bioethics. The article is devoted to the explication of the Buddhist approach to the ethical assessment of euthanasia based on the material of Encyclopedia of Abhidharma with Commentary, an exegetical work by the famous educator Vasubandhu (4th–5th centuries) . A thematic analysis of the text reveals two different types of euthanasia discussed by Buddhist exegetes. One of them is characterized as the foreign practice of killing terminally ill parents in order to save them from severe suffering. In the context of the Buddhist worldview, this type of euthanasia belongs to the category of murders committed on the basis of ignorance. Killing is not a method of getting rid of suffering, because suffering is an attribute of samsara. Ignorant Gentiles do not understand the true difference between sin and virtue. By interrupting the lives of terminally ill parents, they commit the mortal transgression of killing a benefactor. Another type of euthanasia is described as a Buddhist ritual of premature end of life. The ritual is performed by an elderly arhat (the enlightened guardian of the Buddha’s teachings) when he has already prepared a worthy successor. An arhat interrupts his own life through a special mental method sanctified by the canonical tradition. This type of euthanasia was defined by Buddhist exegetes as a phenomenon of the domination of an enlightened person over life and death.

Этика психологической помощи в региональной службе «112» (на материале Волгоградской области)

In recent years, the Russian Federation has seen the institutionalization of various forms of providing emergency psy-chological assistance to the population; The Volgograd region is no exception. Thus, in January 2021, on the basis of the State Treasury Institution of the Volgograd Region under the Committee for Ensuring the Life Safety of the Population of the Volgograd Region, within the framework of the "Control and Communications Center", a unified psychological service for emergency operational calls was created to provide emergency psychological assistance and support to residents of the Volgograd Region "112". Assistance is provided in a distant format between applicants/consumers of psychological services and dispatcher psychologists (DP) of the institu-tion; it is available around the clock and does not require a SIM card or funds in the subscriber’s account. The work is carried out using and adapting modern psychological technologies of various directions to resolve the requests of applicants/consumers. A number of ethical problems in providing emergency psychological assistance and support to residents of the Volgograd region by aoperator-psychologist of the unified psychological service for emergency operational calls "112" (to applicants who are intoxicated, parasuicides and suicide victims, employees of the service itself, etc.) are highlighted. It is shown that the identified problems arise from the general problem field of bioethics (situations that are not clearly regulated in the legal field) and a conclusion is made about the expediency based on the agreed position of the organizers of emergency psychological assistance representing various departments, psychologists, law-yers, and specialists in the field of bioethics detailing the legal support for this institutionalized social practice. In principle, the above ethical problems arise from the general problem field of bioethics: situations that are not clearly regulated in the legal field. In this re-gard, it seems appropriate, based on the agreed position of the organizers of the implementation of emergency psychological assistance, psychologists, lawyers, and specialists in the field of bioethics representing various departments, to detail the legal support for this insti-tutionalized social practice.

Digital Resurrection: Challenging the Boundary between Life and Death with Artificial Intelligence

The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) poses challenges in the field of bioethics, especially concerning issues related to life and death. AI has permeated areas such as health and research, generating ethical dilemmas and questions about privacy, decision-making, and access to technology. Life and death have been recurring human concerns, particularly in connection with depression. AI has created systems like Thanabots or Deadbots, which digitally recreate deceased individuals and allow interactions with them. These systems rely on information generated by AI users during their lifetime, raising ethical and emotional questions about the authenticity and purpose of these recreations. AI acts as a mediator between life, death, and the human being, enabling a new form of communication with the deceased. However, this raises ethical issues such as informed consent from users and the limits of digital recreation. Companies offer services like the Digital Resurrection of deceased individuals and the generation of hyper-realistic avatars. Still, concerns arise about the authenticity of these representations and their long-term emotional impact. Interaction with Thanabots may alter perceptions of death and finitude, leading to a potential “postmortal society” where death is no longer viewed as a definitive end. Nevertheless, this raises questions about the value of life and the authenticity of human experiences. AI becomes a bridge between the living and the dead, partially replacing rituals and mystical beliefs. As technology advances, there will be a need for greater transparency in interacting with AI systems and ethical reflections on the role of these technologies in shaping perceptions of life and death. Ultimately, the question arises of whether we should allow the dead to rest in peace and how to balance the pursuit of emotional relief with authenticity and respect for the memory of the deceased. A deeper ethical consideration is needed on how AI alters traditional notions of life, death, and communication in contemporary society. In this research, an interdisciplinary approach was utilized to conduct a comprehensive systematic review of the recent academic literature, followed by a detailed analysis of two key texts. Central ideas were extracted, and recurring themes were identified. Finally, a reflective analysis of the findings was conducted, yielding significant conclusions and recommendations for future research.

Bioethicists Today: Results of the Views in Bioethics Survey

Bioethicists influence practices and policies in medicine, science, and public health. However, little is known about bioethicists’ views. We recently surveyed 824 U.S. bioethicists on a wide range of ethical issues, including topics related to abortion, medical aid in dying, and resource allocation, among others. We also asked bioethicists about their demographic, religious, academic, and professional backgrounds. We find that bioethicists’ normative commitments predict their views on bioethical issues. We also find that, in important ways, bioethicists’ views do not align with those of the U.S. public: for instance, bioethicists are more likely than members of the public to think abortion is ethically permissible but are less likely to believe compensating organ donors is. Our demographic results indicate the field of bioethics is far less diverse than the U.S. population—less diverse even than other academic disciplines—suggesting far more work needs to be done to build an inclusive field.

Understanding, being, and doing of bioethics; a state-level cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitude, and practice among healthcare professionals.

The field of bioethics examines the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise in the biological sciences, healthcare, and medical practices. There has been a rise in medical negligence cases, complaints against healthcare workers, and public dissatisfaction with healthcare professionals, according to reports from the Indian Medical Council and other healthcare associations. We intend to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of bioethics among the registered healthcare professionals (HCPs) of Maharashtra, India. A State-level online survey was conducted among the registered HCPs (n = 2143) casing all five regions of the Maharashtra state using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The responses were expressed as mean, and proportions with their standard deviation and 95% CI respectively. Binary logistic regression and a multivariate logistic model were used to determine factors associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice of bioethics. Of the 2143 registered HCPs in Maharashtra included in this study, most of them (65.2%) had adequate knowledge of bioethics. Adequate knowledge was associated with lower age, profession (nurses and dentists), employment in the private sector, HCPS at Marathwada and Pune, and higher educational attainment. About 3 in 5 HCPs (59.4%) had a favorable attitude towards the ethical practice of bioethics, and was associated with profession, place of work, region of practice, and work experience. The distribution of unethical bioethics practices among 10 items was proportionally high, and only 34.4% reported good/fair practice. The common unethical practices in the state were allowing patients to be examined by interns, and not informing them about professional misconduct to the regulatory bodies. Most HCPs had adequate knowledge of bioethics, which is encouraging and would favor the laying foundation for forming a good bioethics framework. Only 3/5 HCPs demonstrated a favorable attitude, and the observed unethical practice is alarmingly common. A serious consideration to evaluate the compliance level of bioethics practice periodically and measures to educate, sensitize, and train bioethics among HCPs in Maharashtra is warranted.

Ethics in the use of psychedelics: The definition of illicit drugs from the perspective of critical bioethics

This essay, situated in the field of bioethics, examines the prohibition of psychedelic use, exploring arguments surrounding the growing evidence of their therapeutic potential and their millennia-long history of cultural and spiritual uses. It initially discusses the historical context of psychedelics and the various terms used to describe them. The essay problematizes the definition of "drugs," highlighting the lack of objective criteria for distinguishing between legal and illicit substances. Drawing on concepts and theoretical frameworks of critical bioethics, it analyzes how the prohibitionist moral discourse is sustained more by political and economic interests than by scientific justifications, leading to stigmatization and vulnerability. The essay advocates for the end of the prohibition of psychedelics based on ethical arguments, emphasizing their importance in reducing individual and collective suffering. The work contributes to a deeper reflection on this socially controversial topic, integrating interdisciplinary knowledge.

An Exploration of Ethical Considerations in Adolescent Maternal-Fetal Conflict – Balancing of Ethical Principles and Factors Unique to Adolescence Through Applications of Microethics

Maternal-fetal conflict is a complex bioethical issue that evolves through the distinction of the fetus as a separate patient to the pregnant individual. The conflict is characterized by differences in best interest that may be competing between the developing fetus and the pregnant individual, particularly when respecting the autonomy of the pregnant patient may place the fetus at harm. When these conflicts take place within adolescent medicine, novel challenges arise due to factors unique to adolescence, including evolving autonomy, and balancing inherent vulnerability. This commentary explores some of these factors and how they uniquely shape adolescent maternal-fetal conflict. Further, it explores microethics, a field of bioethics that centers around the physician-patient relationship, as a mitigation tool that can be applied in cases of adolescent maternal-fetal conflict.

Assessing the performance of ChatGPT in bioethics: a large language model’s moral compass in medicine

Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) has been a growing point of interest in medical education yet has not been assessed in the field of bioethics. This study evaluated the accuracy...

Translational bioethics: Reflections on what it can be and how it should work.

Translational ethics (TE) has been developed into a specific approach,which revolves around the argument that strategies for bridging the theory-practice gap in bioethics must themselves be justified on ethical terms. This version of TE incorporates normative, empirical and foundational ethics research and continues to develop through application and in the face of new ethical challenges. Here, I explore the idea that the academic field of bioethics has not yet sufficiently analysed its own philosophical foundation for how it can, and should, be practically relevant; neither has it comprehensively discussed the limitations on what impacts bioethicists should pursue. As a result, there has not been adequate training on how to suitably and appropriately impact real-world practices. Moreover, bioethical perspectives are often competing with other strong interests, for example, economic and political, which may weaken their impact on policy-making. The TE approach I propose can not only facilitate practical impacts of academic bioethics by being better informed by real-world ethical issuesbut it also supports targeted and ethical justifications of the actual impact of academic work in real-world contexts. In this paper, I clarify the premises for this TE approach, identify further challenges and sketch out potential solutions for the implementation of this methodological framework.

Bioethical issues in the family health strategy: Considerations for nursing care management.

To understand the bioethical issues involved in the care management of nurses working in the Family Health Strategy. A qualitative study was conducted through five focus groups with 36 nurses selected in the sample. Thematic content analysis was performed based on the bioethical framework, and the synthesis was presented in a conceptual map. Bioethical issues were identified in the nursing care practice, related to both specific bioethical themes and the peculiarities of the work. Additionally, challenges and facilitators that interfere with addressing these issues were identified. Understanding the bioethical issues involved in the care management of nurses was possible with the theoretical support of different bioethical perspectives. The identified issues relate to persistent and current themes in the field of bioethics. However, some aspects intrinsic to daily practice are still imperceptible to professionals, contributing to the difficulty of discussing bioethics in this care model.

How We Found Consensus on Pediatric Decision-Making and Why It Matters.

This article describes the process engaged by 17 expert scholars in the development of a set of six consensus recommendations about the normative foundations of pediatric decision-making. The process began with a robust pre-reading assignment, followed by three days of in-person symposium discussions that resulted in a publication in Pediatrics entitled "Pediatric Decision-Making: Consensus Recommendations" (Salter et al. 2023). This article next compares the six recommendations to existing statements about pediatric decision-making (specifically those developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics), highlighting similarities and differences. Finally, the article discusses the value of finding consensus in the field of pediatric bioethics.

比較技術倫理學視域下的腦機介面技術

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.
 Zhai Zhenming compares brain–computer interface (BCI) technology with artificial intelligence technology and other mind extension technologies (such as ChatGPT), which I refer to as “comparative technology ethics.” I believe that it is meaningful to conduct research using comparison in the field of bioethics or technical ethics. I attempt to develop this type of comparative research and propose a comparison between risk-in-experiment technology and risk-of-effect technology. Although in some respects BCIs fall into the first category, the question of whether BCIs should be prohibited should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

The eco-ethical contribution of Menico Torchio – a forgotten pioneer of European Bioethics

BackgroundIn 1926, Fritz Jahr described bio-ethics (German: bio-ethik) as “the assumption of moral obligations not only towards humans, but towards all forms of life.” Jahr summarized his philosophy by declaring, “Respect every living being on principle as an end in itself and treat it, if possible, as such!.” Bioethics was thus originally an ethical system concerned with the “problems of interference with other living beings… and generally everything related to the balance of the ecosystem” according to the 1978 Encyclopedia of Bioethics. This definition was predicated on the work of Fritz Jahr, Menico Torchio, and Van Rensselaer Potter.MethodsIn order to proceed with depthful analysis of the origin and major bioethical flare up, we will use critical analysis of existing literature, followed by a study trip to relevant bioethical localities (collecting photo and other documentations regarding Menico Torchio).ResultsWhile Jahr and Potter are typically given intellectual credit for developing the field of bioethics, the eco-ethical contributions of Menico Torchio have been forgotten.This article will first trace the origins of “bioethics” – now commonly bifurcated into “biomedical ethics” and “environmental bioethics.” The former was developed by Tom Beauchamp from the Philosophy Department and James Childress of the Religious Studies department at Georgetown University and is based on principlism, with a narrow focus on medical settings. The latter addresses the environmental impact of the medical industry and climate change health hazards. Second, we will present a panorama of Torchio’s significant intellectual contribution to bioethics. Menico Torchio’s concept of bioethics synthesized work of both Jahr and Potter, advocating “the need to expand our ethical obligations and embrace the most developed groups of animals, not only physically but also psychologically.” Third, we will reflect on the lasting legacy of “bioethics” on biomedical and environmental bioethics today. Thematic elements such as interconnectedness of planetary health and human health, dedication to living in harmony with nature, and emphasis on systems and symbiosis remain unchanged from the legacy of Tochio onward.ConclusionOur conclusion will underscore the necessity of understanding the connections between planetary, environmental, and human health.

The myth of translational bioethics.

In recent years, the case has been made for special attention to be paid to a branch of research in the field of bioethics called 'translational bioethics'. In this paper, we start by considering some of the assumptions that those advancing translational approaches to bioethics make about bioethics and compare them to the reality of bioethics as an academic field. We move on to explain how those who make this case, implicitly or explicitly, for translational bioethics go awry because of how they understand the 'gap' between bioethical inquiry and practical settings that requires bridging. We consider three interpretations of this 'translation gap' in bioethics: (i) the gap between theory and practice, (ii) the gap between the force of normative claims and practical contextual realities and (iii) the gap between relevance or applicability to practice and actual application or implementation in practice. In each case, we show how a proper understanding of the nature of the academic field of bioethics undermines how these gaps have been formulated, and how any need for talk of 'translational bioethics' is removed.

Healthcare Under Fire: Stories from Healthcare Workers During Armed Conflict.

This symposium includes twelve narratives from individuals or groups who have worked to help the sick and injured receive healthcare during armed conflict. Four commentaries on these narratives are also included, authored by experts and scholars in the fields of bioethics, human rights, sexual violence in armed conflict, the forced displacement of civilians, and policy development for resource constrained healthcare. The goal of this symposium is to call attention to the the difficulties and ethical dilemmas of providing healthcare during violent armed conflict.

From book to bedside? A critical perspective on the debate about "translational bioethics".

The concept of "translational bioethics" has received considerable attention in recent years. Most publications draw an analogy to translational medicine and describe bioethical research that aims at implementing and evaluating ethical interventions. However, current accounts of translational bioethics are often rather vague and seem to differ with regard to conceptual and methodological assumptions. It is not clear and scarcely analyzed what exactly "translation" in the field of bioethics means, in particular regarding goals and processes so that it is justified to appeal to translational medicine. In this article, we thus explore possible analogies and disanalogies between translational medicine and translational bioethics to establish whether the often occurring reference to concepts of translational medicine in the field of bioethics can be justified by substantial analogies. We will first provide an account of different models of translational medicine. In a second step, we will propose an analytic definition that explicitly articulates the essential characteristics of "translational research" irrespective of the research field (i.e., biomedicine, bioethics). Subsequently, we will explore whether and in how far general characteristics and phases of translational research in medicine can be applied to translational research in bioethics. Based on our analyses, we will come to the skeptical conclusion that at present there are considerable conceptual disanalogies and unsolved conceptual problems that disallow using "translational bioethics" in a meaningful analogy to respective accounts in biomedicine. Nevertheless, we will demonstrate that some insights gained by the conceptual accounts of translational medicine can contribute to advance current research activities in bioethics.

Sands, Danielle. (Ed.). (2022). Bioethics and the Posthumanities. Routledge.

The turn of the twenty-first century and the subsequent continuous emergence of implications related to technological advancement have brought a crisis into the heart of the humanities. Its etymological origin, humanism, a philosophical stance shaped during and perpetuated by the Enlightenment, is becoming more and more redundant. An ecological emergency and advancements in science have created a need for a renewed understanding of subjectivity as well as of humanity’s place in and relation to the rest of the world. The reviewed volume exposes the timeliness and unquestionable relevance of posthumanism in relation to the needs created by contemporary reality, both within and without the academy and the humanities. Beyond merely philosophizing, Danielle Sands explores the practical applications of posthuman theory in the field of bioethics by including nine original, insightful, and interdisciplinary chapters that aspire to build a better present and a better future for all.

Междисциплинарные связи в преподавании биоэтики

Abstract. As you know, the moral side is in all our relationships, actions and thoughts. The procedure for evaluating on a scale of"good – bad" immediately translates judgments about reality into an ethical plane. This is most clearly seen when working with livingobjects, which makes bioethics a metascience. This, in turn, requires special methods, skills and ways of explication of value bases.And since the axiological portrait of reality is subjective and has a high degree of variability, the permanently ongoing dispute about thestructure and content of education in the field of bioethics is unlikely to have an unambiguous solution. Therefore, the bioethical para-digm of intentionality is so important in educational practices in this field of knowledge.