Search

Bioethics lives in the shadow of great structures and practices of power, and yet, it has not been notable for its contributions to an understanding of power. (1) Indeed, the [...]

One of the most common criticisms of informed consent to research is that the subjects have been 'coerced' into participating in clinical studies. Discussion of 'coercion' is common in scholarly [...]

Contemporary ethical and legal norms hold that all human beings born alive should be treated equally, regardless of disability. Yet there is a strong sense that some lives are so [...]

Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question. Hence all parties are obliged to borrow, in their daily [...]

Editor's Note: On February 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health changed course on conflicts of interest and prohibited its scientists from owning stock in or working as consultants with [...]

To the Editor: Ruth Macklin and Eric Cohen have written eloquently and passionately about the bioethics wars in the United States (January-February 2006). While their arguments are of great interest, [...]

There are compelling moral and practical reasons for conducting research across international borders, yet such research can involve particularly difficult ethical issues. Consider the urgent need to develop and evaluate [...]

It is easy to forget but crucial to remember that when lawmakers decide to regulate an activity, they must select a method. The law of bioethics particularly favors one method--requiring [...]

Recently, the Supreme Court has countered cases that concern perhaps our weightiest bioethical issue--how medical care is to be rationed. But this does not mean that the Court must therefore [...]

As I write, the Supreme A Court has just agreed to hear Compassion in Dying v. Washington and Quill v. Vacco, the two cases in which United States circuit courts [...]

Fetal Cosmetology BY HILDE LINDEMANN, ELLEN K. FEDER, AND ALICE DREGER Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a serious medical condition that needs to be treated throughout the affected person's life. Prenatal [...]

'Procuring Hearts after Cardiac-Based Death: Questions about Infant Heart Donations' BY ROBERT M. VEATCH The August 14 New England Journal of Medicine reported that for the first time hearts were [...]

Science today is a transnational activity: scientists work across borders. The regulation of science is a national activity, however. Laws and ethical standards frequently differ across countries, of course, and [...]

Those who think about ethical issues in medicine and medical science have taken to asking, increasingly frequently, what it takes to make a real social difference on these matters, and [...]

The proposed European Convention on Bioethics now being prepared by the Council of Europe ought to be prompting a debate as to whether the law should be used to enforce [...]

How Should Ethics Committees Treat Advance Directives? The increasing popularity of advance directives among patients and strong support for their use from legislatures, courts, and ethicists means that ethics committees [...]

A Once and Future Biomedical Ethics Board The congressional Biomedical Ethics Board and its attendant Advisory Committee were convinced in November 1985, but may be stillborn by October of 1988. [...]