The Key Features of a Genetic Nondiscrimination Policy: A Delphi Consensus Statement.

Importance: Governments worldwide have become increasingly cognizant of the spread of genetic discrimination (negative treatment or harm on the basis of actual or presumed genetic characteristics). Despite efforts by a number of governments to establish regulations addressing this phenomenon, public concern about genetic discrimination persists.

Objective: To identify key elements of an optimal genetic nondiscrimination policy and inform policymakers as they seek to allay genetic nondiscrimination and related public anxieties.

International scope of biomedical research ethics review.

Many countries consider long-term implications for society.

Should Chatbots Be Used to Obtain Informed Consent for Research?

Chatbots have become increasingly common in diverse settings as a substitute for human conversation. They are being developed and tested for obtaining informed consent for research. An initial study indicated that chatbots saved time and were successful in knowledge transfer, but the informed consent process serves other purposes, such as building trust and respecting the autonomy and dignity of potential research participants.

Concordance of International Regulation of Pediatric Health Research.

Objective: To assess the comparability of international ethics principles and practices used in regulating pediatric research as a first step in determining whether reciprocal deference for international ethics review is feasible. Prior studies by the authors focused on other aspects of international health research, such as biobanks and direct-to-participant genomic research. The unique nature of pediatric research and its distinctive regulation by many countries warranted a separate study.

Translational Bioethics and Health Privacy.

Translational bioethics expands the scope of research ethics to include multidisciplinary analyses of the societal implications of new translational science discoveries. Novel health privacy issues are raised by the collection, use, and disclosure of extensive and diverse big data for research on precision medicine. Similar privacy concerns surround the use of artificial intelligence to analyze vast troves of clinical records to improve patient outcomes.

Expanding Paid Sick Leave Laws: The Public Health Imperative.

A key public health measure has received far too little attention over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic: paid sick leave policies that encourage people at risk of spreading disease to stay home rather than come to work. The United States is one of the only developed countries that fails to guarantee paid sick leave at the federal level, leaving a patchwork of state and private policies that undersupply time off when people are contagious and protect top wage earners at wildly disproportionate rates compared with what workers with lower incomes experience. Other countries have shown that sick leave mandates are neither unjustified burdens on employers nor gratuitous giveaways to employees.

The Illusion of Health Privacy in Obstetrics-Gynecology.

Many health professionals and patients erroneously believe that professional ethics and laws protect the privacy of sensitive records in obstetrics-gynecology. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule permits disclosure of health records without authorization for public health, law enforcement, and other reasons. Individuals also may be compelled to authorize the release of their records in applying for employment, life insurance, or government benefits.

Expanding the Role of Bioethics in Translational Science.

Translational science attempts to accelerate and increase the significance of research progressing from bench to bedside. Support from the NIH through its institutional grant program has increased the prominence and importance of translational science. The inclusion of a broadly based bioethics component to translational science presents an opportunity for bioethics scholars to address fundamental social issues, including the effects of translational science on public health, health equity, and human flourishing.

The and the Scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 applicable to private sector employers with 100 or more employees. Among other things, the ETS required employers either to mandate employee vaccination or weekly testing and wearing masks.

Streamlining ethics review for international health research.

Single-site review means protection and efficiency.

Cardiologists' Perspectives on BiDil and the Use of Race in Drug Prescribing.

Objectives: We explored cardiologists' attitudes and prescribing patterns specific to the use of generic isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine hydrochloride, and the fixed-dose patented drug, BiDil.

Background: Since the Food and Drug Administration approved BiDil in 2005 with an indication for self-identified black patients, disagreement about the appropriateness of race-based drugs has intensified and led to calls for providers and researchers to abandon race-based delimitations. This paper reports empirical evidence of cardiologists' views on BiDil's race-based indication and their ongoing inertia with respect to the debate about BiDil.

Big Data, Surveillance Capitalism, and Precision Medicine: Challenges for Privacy.

Surveillance capitalism companies, such as Google and Facebook, have substantially increased the amount of information collected, analyzed, and monetized, including health information increasingly used in precision medicine research, thereby presenting great challenges for health privacy.

Doctors and Pain Patients Avoid "Ruan" in the Supreme Court.

Physicians' fear of criminal prosecution for prescribing opioid analgesics is a major reason why many chronic pain patients are having an increasingly difficult time obtaining medically appropriate pain relief. In 142 S. Ct.

Covid Vaccine Mandates and Religious Accommodation in Employment.

Many employers are requiring their employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19 to comply with federal, state, or local laws, or to conform to employers' policies. Some employees object to vaccination on religious grounds. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination in employment based on religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees' religious beliefs or practices unless doing so would be an undue hardship to the employer's business.

Informed Consent for Secondary Research under the New NIH Data Sharing Policy.

The new NIH data sharing policy, effective January 2023, requires researchers to submit a data management and data sharing plan in their grant application. Expanded data sharing, encouraged by NIH to facilitate secondary research, will require informed consent documents to explain data sharing plans, limitations, and procedures.

Employer Liability for "Take-Home" COVID-19.

Workplace exposure to SARS-CoV-2 has sickened workers and, subsequently, their family members. Family members might be able to recover from the employer in a negligence action using "take-home" liability theory.

Can Genetic Nondiscrimination Laws Save Lives?

Numerous state laws and the federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) have been enacted to prevent or redress genetic discrimination in employment and health insurance, but laws protecting against genetic discrimination in life insurance have been less common and weak. Consequently, some individuals with a genetic risk of a serious illness have declined presymptomatic genetic testing, thereby decreasing their prevention and treatment options and increasing their mortality risk. In 2020, Florida became the first state to prohibit life insurance companies from using the results of presymptomatic genetic tests in underwriting.