Unjustified Claims Research Articles

Factors potentially enhancing medically unjustified malpractice claims in Poland

Doctors signal that more and more often they have to face and defend themselves against unfair medical malpractice allegations. Having the perspective of being convicted or having to pay high compensation, even though if covered by insurance, they feel insecure. Reports on outstanding medical advancements together with today’s consumerism implement a sense of unlimited possibilities in healthcare. On the other hand information publicising shocking cases of negligence and high compensation creates an image that if something goes wrong during treatment, it is doctor’s fault. This article considers changes in doctor-patient relationship and other potential factors which might influence the number of medical malpractice claims and the propensity of patients to sue.

Public deliberation and the justification of public service media

ABSTRACT Any debate about the future of public media must include the public, but how the public is engaged matters. While public input is elicited by those making governance decisions about public service media, the methods of public engagement used tend to be non-deliberative and so do not provide opportunities for members of the public to discuss and reflect on relevant issues together. We argue that public deliberation is necessary to facilitate a collective public voice that can better justify governance decisions about public service media. To illustrate our argument, we analyse public discussions within an online deliberative assembly about the future of the public service media in the UK. We show not only how assembly participants reflected on and evaluated justifications of public service media in diverse ways, but also the role deliberation played in weeding out unjustifiable claims and facilitating a form of mutual justification among a heterogeneous public.

Rhetoric of psychological measurement theory and practice.

Metascience scholars have long been concerned with tracking the use of rhetorical language in scientific discourse, oftentimes to analyze the legitimacy and validity of scientific claim-making. Psychology, however, has only recently become the explicit target of such metascientific scholarship, much of which has been in response to the recent crises surrounding replicability of quantitative research findings and questionable research practices. The focus of this paper is on the rhetoric of psychological measurement and validity scholarship, in both the theoretical and methodological and empirical literatures. We examine various discourse practices in published psychological measurement and validity literature, including: (a) clear instances of rhetoric (i.e., persuasion or performance); (b) common or rote expressions and tropes (e.g., perfunctory claims or declarations); (c) metaphors and other "literary" styles; and (d) ambiguous, confusing, or unjustifiable claims. The methodological approach we use is informed by a combination of conceptual analysis and exploratory grounded theory, the latter of which we used to identify relevant themes within the published psychological discourse. Examples of both constructive and useful or misleading and potentially harmful discourse practices will be given. Our objectives are both to contribute to the critical methodological literature on psychological measurement and connect metascience in psychology to broader interdisciplinary examinations of science discourse.

THE ISSUE OF SECURING COMPENSATION FOR ANTICIPATED LOSSES AS A COUNTERBALANCING TOOL OF PROVISIONAL REMEDY

Indemnification of incurred damages does not depend on its advance securement, although the law provides the possibility of securing compensation for potential losses in advance. The institution of guaranteeing compensation for anticipated losses is one of the tools for protecting the defendant’s rights in the procedural guarantees system. Procedural law doctrine and practice sometimes shift the emphasis to already incurred damages and, thus, call it the institution of compensation for damages caused by an unjustified provisional remedy. The law of civil procedure defines the rule for securing the anticipated losses and not already existing or proven damage. The misperception of the concepts of loss and damage causes the wrong approach to the essence of the mentioned institution. The criteria and rules for securing compensation for anticipated losses and incurred damages require different approaches. In relation to the incurred or expected damages, it would be more appropriate to talk not only about the compensation of damages caused to the defendant through an unjustified provisional remedy but also through the dismissed claimant’s claim. Considering all that, securing compensation for anticipated losses should include not only expected losses incurred because of unjustified provisional remedy but also as a result of unjustified/dismissed claims. The defendant may incur various expenses or lose income due to an unjustified provisional remedy or a claim. Attention should be devoted to compensating for the damages caused by an unjustified claim to the extent that, firstly, the measure of provisional remedy is based on alleged facts, and secondly, it is only one of the procedural actions directed against the defendant. The provisional remedy itself and securing compensation for the anticipated losses to the defendant form one of the procedural guarantees of effectively using the right to a fair trial and, accordingly, it is a part of the area protected by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the first Clause of Article 31 of the Constitution of Georgia. Based on the principle of equality before the law and the court, as well as the principle of the equality of the parties in civil proceedings, the claimant also has the right to claim compensation for damages from everyone who, through illicit actions, prevented the enforcement of provisional remedy issued by the court.

Clarifying status of DNNs as models of human vision.

On several key issues we agree with the commentators. Perhaps most importantly, everyone seems to agree that psychology has an important role to play in building better models of human vision, and (most) everyone agrees (including us) that deep neural networks (DNNs) will play an important role in modelling human vision going forward. But there are also disagreements about what models are for, how DNN-human correspondences should be evaluated, the value of alternative modelling approaches, and impact of marketing hype in the literature. In our view, these latter issues are contributing to many unjustified claims regarding DNN-human correspondences in vision and other domains of cognition. We explore all these issues in this response.

Psychology as Science and as Propaganda

The target article highlights research known to have promoted unjustified politicized claims. It also points out that, although researcher political biases might account for this, there are often alternative explanations. It then discusses areas of research in which those alternative explanations are unlikely, so that the best explanation is political bias. The target article is fundamentally correct. Nonetheless, we argue that political bias is a characteristic of the claims made in research articles rather than primarily a characteristic of scientists. Inasmuch as some claim is not wrong simply by virtue of supporting an ideological narrative, to detect politically biased research, we identify four questions to be answered. Test 0 is necessary but not sufficient to infer political bias. If Test 0 is passed, then at least one of Tests 1, 2, or 3 must also be passed. Test 0: Does the study vindicate some political narrative? Test 1: Did they misinterpret or misrepresent their results in ways that unjustifiably advance a particular politicized narrative? Test 2: Do the authors systematically ignore papers and studies inconsistent with their ideology-affirming conclusions? Test 3: Did they leap to ideology-affirming conclusions based on weak data? We close with recommendations for preventing politically biased conclusions.

Scientific misconduct: Plagiarism and non-compliance with disclosure of interest: Retrospective analysis of 1 year's submissions to Orthopaedics & Traumatology: Surgery & Research

IntroductionAuthors submitting to Orthopaedics & Traumatology: Surgery & Research (OTSR) must fulfill the criteria of scientific integrity (SI), including issues of plagiarism and disclosure of interest. These data have not been assessed for OTSR and we therefore conducted a retrospective study of (1) potential plagiarism rates, (2) deficient disclosure of interest (for French authors), and (3) correlation between the two. HypothesisSuspected plagiarism rates exceed 20% and the non-disclosure rate exceeds 80%. Material and methodsWe analyzed 1 year's submissions to OTSR: January 24, 2022 to January 23, 2023. Articles were checked for plagiarism, using iThenticate software (Turnitin, Oakland, CA, USA), with a threshold of > 20% matching. Conflicts of interest, for French authors, investigated on the French Ministry of Health Transparence website (www.transparence.sante.gouv.fr), with non-disclosure defined by undeclared amounts exceeding €1000. ResultsIn total, 851 submissions were analyzed. iThenticate identified 152 (17.7%) with > 20% matching to an already published article. This likely plagiarism varied (p<0.01) between geographic origins of submissions. In the 289 submissions by French authors, there were 275 (95%) failures to report amounts exceeding €1000. Combined non-disclosure and plagiarism was found in only 3 articles submitted by French authors (3/289: 1.03%). DiscussionOTSR applies the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals (www.icmje.org), adheres to the guidelines of the Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE) and the French Health Authority (HAS), and has an ethics committee. Plagiarism is a major SI breach, suspected in 20% of submissions. Also, 95% of French authors failed to properly disclose their interests on submitting an article, although this declaration is mandatory in France and is an integral aspect of SI. There are also other forms of misconduct, such as failure to comply with the French “Jardé” law on research involving human subjects, failure to obtain review board approval, unjustified claims to authorship or deficient archiving, that were not analyzed here. ConclusionsAlthough overall plagiarism rates were under 20% for submissions to OTSR, some geographic areas were more concerned than others. Also, despite reminders by the editorial board, only 5% of French authors made full disclosures; this is a major breach of SI, requiring correction on the part of French authors. Level of evidenceIV; retrospective study.

On “historical unity” of Russian and Ukrainian: A linguistic perspective on language conflict and change

This paper focuses on Putin’s (2021) misguided claim regarding “historical [linguistic] unity” of Russian and Ukrainian. Their being two distinct languages is not in question, as opposed (for example) to Serbian and Croatian. However, it is important to substantiate the objective reality of those differences, taking a strong stand against unjustified claims about linguistic [unity] where there are no grounds for them. Implementing a Python-coded algorithm, like those described in Nerbonne &amp; Kretzschmar 2013, we calculate Levenshtein distance between frequency-based word lists, in a manner sensitive to both organic and contact-induced change, to fully reveal Ukrainian’s complex relationship with both Russian and Polish.

Обоснованность применения требования пожарной безопасности

PURPOSE. Justification of applying fire safety requirements is necessary in cases of conducting control and supervisory activities to determine the compliance with mandatory requirements. When establishing mandatory requirements, the cost of the implementation should be assessed. These costs should be proportionate to the risks prevented by these mandatory requirements. The aim of the research is to enhance the effectiveness of the risk-oriented model of control and supervisory activities. The objectives of the research include differentiating fire safety requirements into mandatory and advisory, taking into account the determining the area of effective application of fire safety requirements based on a calculated assessment of fire risks and proportionality of applied fire safety measures. The target of the research is the risk-oriented model of control and supervisory activities in the conditions of technical regulation in the field of fire safety. The scope of the research is the algorithm for applying fire safety requirements proportionate to the risk of hazard. METHODS. The authors of the work used calculated predictive methods for assessing fire risks to evaluate the level of danger and the cause-and-effect analysis method for qualifying violations of fire safety requirements, the non-compliance of which may cause harm. FINDINGS. An algorithm for applying mandatory fire safety requirements proportionate to the risk of causing harm has been developed based on calculation methods established by regulatory documents and legal acts, which creates conditions for compliance with mandatory requirements, taking into account the risk of causing harm to legally protected values, and reducing unjustified costs for ensuring fire safety requirements. RESEARCH APPLICATION FIELD. Qualification of violations of fire safety requirements during control and supervisory activities to assess the compliance of protected objects with fire safety requirements. CONCLUSIONS. The effectiveness of the risk-oriented model of control and supervisory activities depends on targeted calculation-based systems of fire protection, for the implementation of which an algorithm for applying fire safety requirements proportionate to the risk of causing harm has been developed. This will eliminate unjustified claims of state fire supervision against supervised individuals, remove administrative barriers, and reduce social tension. Thus, the principle of proportionality of intervention by control and supervisory authorities in the activities of supervised individuals is implemented.

Discussion: “Selective-Compliance-Based Lagrange Model and Multilevel Noncollocated Feedback Control of a Humanoid Robot” (Spyrakos-Papastavridis, E., Dai, J. S., Childs, P. R. N., and Tsagarakis, N. G., 2018, ASME J. Mech. Rob., 10(3), p. 031009)

Abstract The present comment concerns the above paper. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4039394]

Intellectual Modesty in Socratic Wisdom: Problems of Epistemic Logic and an Intuitionist Solution

Abstract According to Plato’s Apology of Socrates, a humanly wise person is distinguished by her ability to correctly assess the epistemic status and value of her beliefs. She knows when she has knowledge or has mere belief or is ignorant. She makes no unjustified knowledge claims and considers her knowledge to be limited in scope and value. This means: A humanly wise person is intellectually modest. However, when interpreted classically, Socratic wisdom cannot be modest. For in classical epistemic logic, modelling second-order knowledge of knowing something or not, i.e. positive and negative introspection, requires a degree of self-transparency that would at most be attributed to an omniscient and infallible agent. If intellectual modesty is part of Socratic wisdom, we have to look for another epistemic model. I will offer three proposals and argue that an intuitionist reading of the classical concept of knowledge is best suited for this purpose.

Meeting Doug Henderson

Doug Henderson brought his profound knowledge of ionic solutions to biology in his study of ion channels. Ion channels are proteins that conduct ions and electric current across otherwise insulating membranes. The ions are so crowded in these protein channels that the competition between charge and space dominates their properties. Here is how that work started from an unjustified claim (by me), a rather rude question by Doug Henderson, a fortunate reply and a memorable drive, all resolved by a calculation by Dezsö Boda.

Wine Geographical Indications and Product Specifications: A Case of Prosecco Quality and Characteristics?

Abstract Article 22 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights defines Geographical Indications (GI). However, GI claims are increasingly contentious. Given the significance of trade barriers which can arise from unjustified GI claims, the article argues that legitimacy of GI claims must turn on whether objective evidence exists to the effect that Article 22(1) criteria are met. This article tests certain elements of the EU ‘Prosecco’ GI claim – that its qualities and characteristics are essentially attributable to the relevant location – against Italian production specifications to determine whether they provide evidentiary justification for the GI claim. This reveals evidence of absence of consistent qualities or characteristics in ‘Prosecco’ wine. The article additionally examines evidence explaining why this is so. The consequence of this conclusion is that the EU ‘Prosecco’ GI claim must rest solely upon the concept of ‘reputation’ for its legitimacy. Moreover, the approach taken by this article can be utilized to test the legitimacy of any GI claim so far as it relates to quality and characteristics.

Orchids - discoverers and firsts

When Dr. Paromik Bhattacharyya first asked me to write for this special issue of the South African Journal of Botany, I refused for several good reasons: Retired for 20 years, not having done research for 21 years, 89 1/2 years old, no longer reading as extensively as before my retirement, recovering from surgeries, trying to manage health problems, which even if not severe are vexing, and being lazy. However, Dr. Bhattacharyya would not take no for an answer. After exchanging several (too many) emails I agreed to think about it. I did think and decided that since this issue deals with orchid biotechnology it may be a good idea to clear the air.By “stealing” from my previous/other writings, using my extensive library, accessing literature on line, and utilizing knowledge accumulated since about 1956, I decided to write an article, which establishes beyond any doubt who were first to make several orchid discoveries, formulate a number of procedures and develop some methods. At my age, I have the necessary perspective and knowledge. And, most importantly, antagonizing people (so, what is new?) and making enemies (again, what is new?) will not be damaging.I decided to write about who:•Was the first to recognize orchid seeds as such and describe and illustrate them? There are no arguments or claims and counterclaims about it, but the information is buried in old, rare and not very well-known books in languages other than English.•Invented mass rapid clonal propagation of orchids and how to free plants from virus infections. Believe or not these two are tied to each other, there are unjustified claims of priority, and a widely admired “sole discoverer” did not discover them.•Used serology (now an outdated method) first to detect an orchid virus. There was an unwarranted claim at one time.•Inserted genes into orchids first. It becomes clear if one reads the literature, but what if another claim was repeated several times in writing and talks?•First studied control of flowering in mature orchid plants. There are no claims and counterclaims, but the information is not easy to find.•Managed to induce plantlets or seedlings in vitro to flower. The truth may have been late to come out due to political upheavals.

Datio ob rem and datio ob causam – the purpose of performance in Roman law

Summary This paper deals with one of the most important unjustified enrichment claims in Roman law, the condictio causa data causa non secuta concentrating on the crucial issue of the purpose of performance. In Roman law the purpose of performance was denoted by the term res as a part of datio ob rem (giving for a purpose) or causa as a part of datio ob causam (giving on a basis); however, in the secondary literature there is a dispute over the exact meaning of those terms and their mutual relationship. Some scholars identify res with the counter-performance which was expected from the recipient. Others consider this interpretation of res as too narrow, because datio ob rem was applied not only where the giver expected counter-performance but also when he tried to achieve other goals, including that not associated with the recipient’s behaviour at all. In order to find a solution to that long-lasting dispute the article analyses typical examples of cases described in the sources as datio ob rem or datio ob causam.

Reframing cancer: challenging the discourse on cancer and cancer drugs\u2014a Norwegian perspective

BackgroundAs the range of therapeutic options in the field of oncology increases, so too does the strain on health care budgets. The imbalance between what is medically possible and financially feasible is frequently rendered as an issue of tragic choices, giving rise to public controversies around health care rationing.Main bodyWe analyse the Norwegian media discourse on expensive cancer drugs and identify four underlying premises: (1) Cancer drugs are de facto expensive, and one does not and should not question why. (2) Cancer drugs have an indubitable efficacy. (3) Any lifetime gained for a cancer patient is an absolute good, and (4) cancer patients and doctors own the truth about cancer. Applying a principle-based approach, we argue that these premises should be challenged on moral grounds. Within the Norwegian public discourse, however, the premises largely remain unchallenged due to what we find to be unjustified claims of moral superiority. We therefore explore alternative framings of the issue of expensive cancer drugs and discuss their potential to escape the predicament of tragic choices.ConclusionsIn a media discourse that has seemingly stagnated, awareness of the framings within it is necessary in order to challenge the current tragic choices predicament the discourse finds itself in. In order to allow for a discourse not solely concerned with the issue of tragic choices, the premises that underlie it must be subjected to critical examination. As the field of oncology advances rapidly, we depend on a discussion of its opportunities and challenges that is meaningful, and that soberly addresses the future of cancer care—both its potential and its limits.

Assessment of Antiviral Coatings for High-Touch Surfaces by Using Human Coronaviruses HCoV-229E and SARS-CoV-2.

ABSTRACTA novel and robust approach to evaluate the antiviral activity of coatings was developed, assessing three commercially available leave-on surface coating products for efficacy against human coronaviruses (HCoVs) HCoV-229E and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The assessment is based on three criteria that reflect real-life settings, namely, (i) immediate antiviral effect, (ii) effect after repeated cleaning of the coated surface, and (iii) antiviral activity in the presence of organic material. The results showed that only a copper compound-based coating successfully met all three criteria. A quaternary ammonium compound-based coating did not meet the second criterion, and a coating based on reactive oxygen species showed no antiviral effect. Moreover, the study demonstrated that HCoV-229E is a relevant SARS-CoV-2 surrogate for such experiments. This new approach allows benchmarking of currently available antiviral coatings and future coating developments to avoid unjustified claims. The deployment of efficient antiviral coatings can offer an additional measure to mitigate the risk of transmission of respiratory viruses like SARS-CoV-2 or influenza viruses from high-touch surfaces.IMPORTANCE SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is transmitted mainly person-to-person through respiratory droplets, while the contribution of fomite transmission is less important than suspected at the beginning of the pandemic. Nevertheless, antiviral-coating solutions can offer an additional measure to mitigate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from high-touch surfaces. The deployment of antiviral coatings is not new, but what is currently lacking is solid scientific evidence of the efficacy of commercially available self-disinfecting surfaces under real-life conditions. Therefore, we developed a novel, robust approach to evaluate the antiviral activity of such coatings, applying strict quality criteria to three commercially available products to test their efficacies against SARS-CoV-2. We also showed that HCoV-229E is a relevant surrogate for such experiments. Our approach will also bring significant benefit to the evaluation of the effects of coatings on the survival of nonenveloped viruses, which are known to be more tolerant to desiccation and disinfectants and for which high-touch surfaces play an important role.

A critical reflection on the use of improvement science approaches in public health.

'Improvement science' is used to describe specific quality improvement methods (including tests of change and statistical process control). The approach is spreading from clinical settings to population-wide interventions and is being extended from supporting the adoption of proven interventions to making generalisable claims about new interventions. The objective of this narrative review is to evaluate the strengths and risks of current improvement science practice, particularly in relation to how they might be used in population health. A purposive sampling of published studies to identify how improvement science methods are being used and for what purpose. The setting was Scotland and studies that focused on health and wellbeing outcomes. We have identified a range of improvement science approaches which provide practitioners with accessible tools to assess small-scale changes in policy and practice. The strengths of such approaches are that they facilitate consistent implementation of interventions already known to be effective and motivate and empower staff to make local improvements. However, we also identified a number of potential risks. In particular, their use to assess the effectiveness of new interventions often seems to pay insufficient attention to random variation, measurement bias, confounding and ethical issues. The use of current improvement science methods to generate evidence of effectiveness for population-wide interventions is problematic and risks unjustified claims of effectiveness, inefficient resource use and harm to those not offered alternative effective interventions. Newer methodological approaches offer alternatives and should be more widely considered.

The Role of Interest in Unjustified Enrichment Claims

This essay addresses the question: when should pre-citation interest be awarded in actions for unjustified enrichment in Scots law? The answer depends mainly on the definition of the elements of enrichment liability, the manner of acquiring the enrichment, the type of enrichment-debtor, and his or her state of mind. The essay argues that (a) generally the actual interest earned (or saved) should be awarded, aided by a rebuttable presumption that interest was earned at a specified rate; (b) interest should normally be awarded at market rates where the defender knows that s/he holds the money or asset unjustifiably; and (c) in enrichment by interference with the pursuer's rights to money or other assets, an interest award might represent the time-value of exercising those rights during the period of interference.

Corrupt Practices in the Public Health Sector: A Focus on Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, Nigeria

Corruption is pervasive in Nigeria at all levels. Thus, despite recent gains in healthcare provision, the health sector faces numerous corruption related challenges. This study aims at examining areas of corruption in the health sector with specific focus on its types and nature. A sample size of 480 respondents aged 18 years and above was drawn from the eight Metropolitan Local Government Areas of Kano State, using the multistage sampling technique. The results revealed evidence of corrupt practices including those related to unnecessary-absenteeism, diversion of patients from the public health facilities to the private sector, diverting money meant for the purchase of equipment, fuel and diesel, bribery, stealing of medications, fraud, misappropriation of medications and unjustifiable reimbursement claims. In order to resolve the problem of corrupt practices in the healthcare sector, the study recommended the need for enforcement of appropriate code of ethics guiding the conduct of the health professionals, adoption of anti-corruption strategies, and strengthening the government monitoring system to check corruption in public health sector in order to ensure equitable access to healthcare services among the under-privileged people in the society.