Clinical ethicists represent a growing profession in U.S. healthcare.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPediatr Hematol Oncol
February 2023
There is significant debate over whether phase 1 pediatric oncology trials are ethical and approvable. We thus surveyed IRB members to answer four questions. First, do IRB members think the potential medical benefits of average phase 1 pediatric oncology trials justify the risks? Second, do they think these trials are ethically appropriate? Third, do they think these trials are approvable? Fourth, how do the views of IRB members on the first two questions compare to the views of the US public? Of the 80 respondents who answered the test questions correctly, 18.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRollouts of COVID-19 vaccines in the USA were opportunities to redress disparities that surfaced during the pandemic. Initial eligibility criteria, however, neglected geographic, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic considerations. Marginalized populations may have faced barriers to then-scarce vaccines, reinforcing disparities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Critics argue that it is unethical to expose children to research risks for the benefit of others, whereas many regulations permit "net-risk" pediatric research but only when the risks are minimal. In the present survey, we assessed whether the US public agrees with these views and whether the US public's views regarding the acceptability of net-risk pediatric research are influenced by its social value.
Methods: A 15-minute survey of a nationally representative sample of US adults.
Purpose: Proposals to return medically actionable secondary genetic findings (SFs) in the clinical and research settings have generated controversy regarding whether to solicit individuals' preferences about their "right not to know" genetic information. This study contributes to the debate by surveying research participants who have actively decided whether to accept or refuse SFs.
Methods: Participants were drawn from a large National Institutes of Health (NIH) environmental health study.
Objectives: To assess the US public's views on whether the potential medical benefits of phase 1 pediatric oncology trials justify the risks.
Study Design: Online survey of a nationally representative sample of US adults. Participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which they have a 10-year-old child with advanced cancer.
Given its outsized influence as a core document in bioethics, it is worth reminding ourselves of the historical context in which the Belmont Report came to be. This article examines the societal forces that helped bring about the Belmont Report and that shaped its conception of ethical research. A product of a public investigation that included many nonscientists and espoused philosophical principles, the Report internalized a growing call in the late 1960s for oversight over the research enterprise, which had long been the private realm of physician-investigators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespect for patient autonomy has served as the dominant ethical principle of genetic counselling, but as we move into a genomic era, it is time to actively re-examine the role that this principle plays in genetic counselling practice. In this paper, we argue that the field of genetic counselling should move away from its emphasis on patient autonomy and toward the incorporation of a more balanced set of principles that allows counsellors to offer clear guidance about how best to obtain or use genetic information. We begin with a brief history of how respect for patient autonomy gained such emphasis in the field and how it has taken on various manifestations over time, including the problematic concept of nondirectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe field of genetic counseling has grown and diversified since the profession emerged in the early 1970s. In the same period, genomic testing has become more complex, profitable, and widespread. With these developments, the scope of ethical considerations relevant to genetic counseling has expanded.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Alcohol and illicit drug use has been recognized as a growing problem among adolescents in Botswana. Little is known about factors affecting alcohol and drug use among Botswana's secondary school students. To aid the design and implementation of effective public health interventions, we sought to determine the prevalence of alcohol and drug use in secondary school students in urban and peri-urban areas of Botswana, and to evaluate risk and protective factors for substance use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Public Health
August 2018
Schools have long been critical partners for public health authorities in achieving widespread vaccination. In the mid-20th century, however, public schools also served as sites of large-scale experiments on novel vaccines. Through examining the experimental diphtheria, polio, and measles vaccine trials, I explored the implications of using schools in this manner, as well as the continuities and discontinuities among the three cases.
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