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The field of Artificial Life studies the nature of the living state by modeling and synthesizing living systems. Such systems, under certain conditions, may come to deserve moral consideration similar to that given to nonhuman vertebrates or even human beings. The fact that these systems are nonhuman and evolve in a potentially radically different substrate should not be seen as an insurmountable obstacle to their potentially having rights, if they are sufficiently sophisticated in other respects. Nor should the fact that they owe their existence to us be seen as reducing their status as targets of moral concern. On the contrary, creators of Artificial Life may have special obligations to their creations, resembling those of an owner to their pet or a parent to their child. For a field that aims to create artificial life-forms with increasing levels of sophistication, it is crucial to consider the possible ethical implications of our activities, with an eye toward assessing potential moral obligations for which we should be prepared. If Artificial Life is larger than life, then the ethics of artificial beings should be larger than human ethics.

Sharing research data has great potential to benefit science and society. However, data sharing is still not common practice. Since public research funding agencies have a particular impact on research and researchers, the question arises: Are public funding agencies morally obligated to promote data sharing? We argue from a research ethics perspective that public funding agencies have several pro tanto obligations requiring them to promote data sharing. However, there are also pro tanto obligations that speak against promoting data sharing in general as well as with regard to particular instruments of such promotion. We examine and weigh these obligations and conclude that all things considered funders ought to promote the sharing of data. Even the instrument of mandatory data sharing policies can be justified under certain conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interaction is laden with stereotypes. Throughout history negative stereotypes have been immensely harmful, leading to hatred, vilification, and direct harm such as discrimination, and they continue to be so in almost all societies. It is widely accepted that we ought not to view members of other groups negatively in stereotypical ways, and also ought not to apply negative stereotypes to members of our own group (or even to ourselves). However, is there any special moral obligation on the targets of such negative stereotypes to take care not to confirm them? May one even be blameworthy for not doing so? The very thought seems outrageous. Yet I will argue that it is plausible to think that, in fact, the victims, too, have pro tanto obligations to prevent stereotype confirmation (henceforth SC), in many central contexts. I am not aware of any sustained philosophical discussion making this claim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional monotheist religious believers commonly believe that God will sometimes assist them, will be on their side. God, in other words, they believe, is an asset. Conceptually an asset is anything (such as a person or an object) that can assist one, something that is prima facie good to possess or to have on one's side, that is likely to or can assist one to make one's life go better, overall. Having assets can have weighty implications, including moral ones. I argue that here the implications are quite surprising, and indeed paradoxical. In particular, the religious will have in certain circumstances good reasons, and sometimes even moral obligations, to give up their interests for those who lack such assets, namely secular non-believers. The claim is not that religious people actually see things in this way but that, normatively, given their beliefs, many of them should, in the sense of the subjective 'ought'. This can be relevant both in this world and concerning the next. Moreover, in many situations plausible religious replies are not sufficient to block the move. This topic has not, to the best of my knowledge, ever been seriously analysed philosophically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews with undocumented Latinx young adults (18–31) who arrived in Los Angeles, California, as unaccompanied minors (11–17), this study examines immigrant youth workers’ migration motives, their transnational ties and transnationalism’s effect on their imagined futures. Findings show that, in the context of structural and community violence and poverty, Central American and Mexican youth migrate alone at young ages, in part to fulfill moral obligations to provide financial and emotional support within networks of care for the families they eventually leave behind. For many, left-behind family’s needs increase as parents and siblings age into new life stages. Unmarried transnational youth workers are especially likely to shoulder moral obligations. This is while they transition into young adulthood in the US and weigh their own prospects for education and occupational mobility in Los Angeles or their home communities. Maintaining moral obligations established in adolescence throughout the transition into young adulthood can cause youth to reimagine futures to include the possibility of staying and other alternatives. This research offers important insights into the changing nature of transnational families, unaccompanied minors’ coming of age, and the lives of migrant youth workers in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ukraine's war of self-defense against Russia is one of the clearest examples of a nation fighting a just war in recent history. Ukraine is clearly entitled to defend itself, and Russia is clearly obligated to cease hostilities, withdraw troops, and make repair. In light of this, some of the most salient moral questions related to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine involve the international community; namely, what moral duties it has toward Ukraine, especially in light of Russia's extreme and pervasive human rights abuses. The first section of the essay argues that there is a pro tanto moral duty to intervene militarily in Ukraine to stop Russian human rights abuses and ensure that Ukraine achieves a military victory. This duty is grounded in duties of rescue, promissory obligations, and reliance obligations, as well as duties to nations' own citizens and to the international community. The second section of the essay argues that the most relevant consideration in determining whether there is an all-things-considered duty for the international community to intervene militarily in Ukraine is Russia's nuclear coercion and the associated risk of nuclear war. This section highlights the nuclear risks involved in compliance with Russian nuclear coercion, which I argue have been neglected in prominent discussions. The moral stakes involved in this determination are very high, and succumbing to Russian nuclear coercion in the face of massive human rights violations would set a dangerous precedent. Any course of action should be guided by a thorough analysis of all the risks involved, both nuclear and moral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some recent work in legal theory argues that legal questions boil down to moral questions. On this view, lawyers and judges are ultimately interested in the moral effect of things done by legal institutions. This view has been called the 'new legal anti-positivism'. So far, it has not given a convincing account of precedent. That is, it has not explained how moral reasons can account for what judges do in practice when they follow past decisions. Any successful account must explain the central features of this practice: why lower courts follow higher courts, and not the other way around; the difference between ratio and obiter ; and the situations in which judges distinguish or overrule past decisions. This article gives a non-positivist account that meets this challenge, by giving a prominent place to the moral importance of roles. The account avoids some problems faced by existing non-positivist accounts of precedent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: One of the most important factors that can affect auditors' understanding of ethical issues is the environmental factor of the threat to personal interests. The objective of this research was to examine the impact of ethical constraints and personal interest threats on professional judgment and doubt. Methods: The use of field research and documentation has been made to apply the goal of this study and the descriptive-correlation approach. To determine the research pattern and the criteria extracted from the theoretical bases has been done with the help of 30 experts using the method based on the Delphi technique. The statistical population of this research was the auditors working in member institutions of the official accountants' society at different levels. Factor load, path coefficients, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability coefficient were stimated. All statistical analyses were done using SPSS and Amos software. Results: In every instance, the T value and the standardized factor loading between the variables and the questions were more than 1.96 and 0.4, respectively. Consequently, the findings demonstrated that the questions were appropriately included in the model and study based on the data gathered, and no more questions in the questionnaire needed to be added or altered. Ethical pressures and the threat of personal interests have a significant effect on auditors' judgment and auditors' professional skepticism. Also, the threat of personal interests has a significant effect on professional doubt. Average variance extracted showed that the appropriateness of convergent validity because the average variance retrieved from the elements. Factor loading coefficients showed that the self-interest item had the highest coefficient. Conclusion: Moral pressures and the threat of personal interests are important factors in auditors' judgments and their professional doubts, which are effective from the cultural resources of the society. Therefore, adjusting each of these factors will improve the conditions of auditors.

The level of tax revenue that has continued to decline from year to year, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic has become a special concern for the tax sector. Therefore, the tax authorities must know important factors that can motivate taxpayers to be able to fulfill their tax obligations so that tax revenues can continue to be increased. Taxpayers differ in their motivation to pay taxes, including due to the element of coercion such as sanctions, commitment to the life principles they have and the satisfaction of perceived services, and voluntarily knowing that paying taxes is their obligation. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of tax knowledge, tax services, tax penalties and moral obligations on the motivation to pay taxes (Empirical Study of Personal Taxpayers at KPP Pratama Ilir Barat Palembang). There is a significant influence between tax knowledge and moral obligation on the motivation of individual taxpayers to pay taxes. This is because taxpayers who know the importance of taxes and their functions for the welfare of society, as well as the moral encouragement possessed by taxpayers can motivate them to fulfill their tax obligations. There is no significant effect between tax sanctions and tax services on the motivation of individual taxpayers to pay taxes. This is due to the still weak enforcement of legal sanctions and the unfair treatment felt by taxpayers so that they can avoid taxes and do not need to pay taxes. Future research on this topic can be developed by adding research variables; such as e-filling systems, tax audits and tax rates and other variables that may affect the motivation to pay taxes. Future research can also expand the research sample by increasing the number of respondents in order to represent the population accurately and more deeply using different research methods such as purposive sampling method and direct interviews with taxpayers and tax officials to obtain deeper data.

Introduction: This study aims to design an organizational structure model based on comprehensive quality and emotional intelligence components in the Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a questionnaire. The components were determined by library study in the form of the initial proposed model and validation by experts in management and healthcare. The research tools included the measurement of consumers' expectations and understanding, Al Omran hospital service quality indicators, and Salovey and Mir's emotional intelligence feelings. Two hundred seventy-three questionnaires were sent online to the samples with random stratified sampling. Exploratory and confirmatory factors were analyzed to check validity and reliabilityResults: Eight components of quality structure dimensions positively affected eight quality service components, and eight components of quality structure dimensions had the greatest impact on "moral obligation,". It had the least impact on "space beauty" among the eight quality service components. All three components of emotional intelligence positively affected eight components of quality structure dimensions and eight components of quality services. However, emotional intelligence had the greatest effect on "determining strategic goals," and the least effect on the "size" of the quality component. Furthermore, the quality service dimension component had the greatest effect on "moral obligation" and the least on "environmental beauty".Conclusion: Considering the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between structure and quality-oriented services, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors affecting the hospitals' organizational structure.

The aim of this article is to consider research method and research ethics issues in the unique location of the Fiji Islands. After arguing that Eurocentric, Anglo-American ethics clearance processes, embedded into Global North Universities, are culturally inappropriate, in the Fiji setting, I go on to imagine alternative ethics clearance questions that pick up on and reflect adequately Fiji's social and economic context. I discuss and explore why traversing relationships, relationships that traverse time and space through giving, receiving, obligation, reimbursement, and forgiveness, often emerge in the Fiji context, and how they can be a local, social equilibrium that benefits both parties. My own research on Fiji soccer history is used to provide illustrations and anecdotes throughout the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research describes how procedural fairness can be used to resolve issues related to ethnic-cultural matters. The central finding in this strand of literature is that when minority members experience procedurally fair treatment by societal actors regarding ethnic-cultural issues, this will lead to a range of outcomes that are beneficial for social cohesion. Although these results are promising, it remains yet to be shown that such group-specific treatment fairness does not hamper social cohesion by inciting misapprehension among members of non-recipient groups. Therefore, the present study set out to examine two central questions. First, how would minority group members respond to treatment fairness of citizens belonging to another minority group? Second, how would majority group members respond to treatment fairness of citizens belonging to minority groups? Two experimental studies (total N = 908) examined these questions. In Study 1, we compared ethniccultural minorities’ reactions to procedurally (un)fair treatment of their own versus a different minority group. In Study 2, we compared minority and majority group members’ responses to procedurally (un)fair treatment of minority group members. Results show that minority group member reactions to ethnic-cultural procedural fairness emanate from a shared bond with the fairness recipient(s) of the other minority group. Conversely, majority group members’ reactions are driven primarily by a perceived moral obligation to act rightfully toward members of disadvantaged groups. Taken together, our results suggest that ethnic-cultural procedural fairness enactment fosters societal unity among different groups, possibly strengthening social cohesion for well-being and prosperity among members of these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It seems as though we have a duty to read the news – that we're doing something wrong when we refuse to pay attention to what's going on in the world. But why? I argue that some plausible justifications for a duty to read the news fail to fully explain this duty: it cannot be justified only by reference to its consequences, or as a duty of democratic citizenship, or as a self-regarding duty. It can, however, be justified on the grounds that we have a positive, imperfect duty of respect for strangers, even when our actions don't affect them directly. Reading the news is a key way, sometimes the only way, that we can respect those who are strangers to us. I close by considering some of the implications and limitations of this duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to determine the level of mandatory compliance of the entity in carrying out tax obligations when it already has technical knowledge, moral obligations and quality of service as well as whether the Good Name of Taxpayers can improve taxpayer compliance. The research method was carried out quantitatively and analyzed using SMARTPLS 3.0 software. The results showed that all independent variables had a positive effect on taxpayer compliance, then the good name of taxpayers could only moderate the quality of service to taxpayer compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tax system serves as a means for the government to generate additional revenue necessary to fulfill its obligations. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on taxpayer compliance in Yogyakarta, with tax socialization serving as a moderating variable. The research was conducted within the city of Yogyakarta and involved 110 taxpayer respondents. The consecutive sampling method was employed as the sampling technique, and data analysis was performed using partial least squares (PLS) analysis with SmartPLS 3.3.3 software. The findings of the study indicate that moral obligation and trust in the government do not have a significant influence on taxpayer compliance, while tax awareness demonstrates a significant effect on taxpayer compliance. However, tax socialization was unable to moderate or strengthen the impact of moral obligation, trust in the government, and tax awareness on taxpayer compliance in Yogyakarta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the moral obligations of the soldier as presented in the essay De devoirs militaires authored in 1845 by Karl Gustav Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1777–1866), an important general of the Austrian army of the post-Napoleonic era. It discusses the main points of the essay, offering historical context.

FROM HIPPOCRATIC OATH TO DECLARATION OF GENEVA: THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICAL VALUES IN MEDICAL PRACTICE

Introduction: This study aims to design an organizational structure model based on comprehensive quality and emotional intelligence components in the Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex in Tehran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a questionnaire. The components were determined by library study in the form of the initial proposed model and validation by experts in management and healthcare. The research tools included the measurement of consumers' expectations and understanding, Al Omran hospital service quality indicators, and Salovey and Mir's emotional intelligence feelings. Two hundred seventy-three questionnaires were sent online to the samples with random stratified sampling. Exploratory and confirmatory factors were analyzed to check validity and reliability Results: Eight components of quality structure dimensions positively affected eight quality service components, and eight components of quality structure dimensions had the greatest impact on "moral obligation,". It had the least impact on "space beauty" among the eight quality service components. All three components of emotional intelligence positively affected eight components of quality structure dimensions and eight components of quality services. However, emotional intelligence had the greatest effect on "determining strategic goals," and the least effect on the "size" of the quality component. Furthermore, the quality service dimension component had the greatest effect on "moral obligation" and the least on "environmental beauty". Conclusion: Considering the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between structure and quality-oriented services, it is necessary to pay attention to the factors affecting the hospitals' organizational structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethical and legal frameworks in the Netherlands, the United States and France, we examine whether physicians are expected to inform patients about potentially relevant opportunities for expanded access to investigational drugs. While we found no definitive legal obligation, we argue that physicians have a moral obligation to discuss opportunities for expanded access with patients who have run out of treatment options to prevent inequality, to promote autonomy, and to achieve beneficence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research describes how procedural fairness can be used to resolve issues related to ethnic-cultural matters. The central finding in this strand of literature is that when minority members experience procedurally fair treatment by societal actors regarding ethnic-cultural issues, this will lead to a range of outcomes that are beneficial for social cohesion. Although these results are promising, it remains yet to be shown that such group-specific treatment fairness does not hamper social cohesion by inciting misapprehension among members of non-recipient groups. Therefore, the present study set out to examine two central questions. First, how would minority group members respond to treatment fairness of citizens belonging to another minority group? Second, how would majority group members respond to treatment fairness of citizens belonging to minority groups? Two experimental studies (total N = 908) examined these questions. In Study 1, we compared ethnic-cultural minorities’ reactions to procedurally (un)fair treatment of their own versus a different minority group. In Study 2, we compared minority and majority group members’ responses to procedurally (un)fair treatment of minority group members. Results show that minority group member reactions to ethnic-cultural procedural fairness emanate from a shared bond with the fairness recipient(s) of the other minority group. Conversely, majority group members’ reactions are driven primarily by a perceived moral obligation to act rightfully toward members of disadvantaged groups. Taken together, our results suggest that ethnic-cultural procedural fairness enactment fosters societal unity among different groups, possibly strengthening social cohesion for well-being and prosperity among members of these groups.

Background: Plagiarism is an ethical concern among students but is insufficiently discussed and acknowledged in some educational institutions. Determining what factors influence plagiarism can help the academic community manage its incidence. Objective: This study determined the factors affecting the intention to plagiarize among Filipino nursing students. Methods: Utilizing a cross-sectional research design, data were gathered from 304 nursing students last June 2021 using valid instruments administered online. Regression analysis identified influencing factors of intention to plagiarize. Results: Findings indicated a generally low intention (M = 1.47, SD = 0.74) to plagiarize among nursing students. Internet literacy (B = -0.314, p

INTRODUCTION:The purpose of this study is to extend prior research on barriers to use of a prescription drug monitoring program by examining psychosocial correlates of intended use among physicians and pharmacists. METHODS:Overall, 1,904 California physicians and pharmacists responded to a statewide survey (24.1% response rate) from August 2016 to January 2017. Participants completed an online survey examining attitudes toward prescription drug misuse and abuse, prescribing practices, prescription drug monitoring program design and ease of use, professional obligations, and normative beliefs regarding prescription drug monitoring program use. Data were analyzed in 2017. RESULTS:Perceived prescription drug monitoring program usefulness and normative beliefs fully mediated the relationship between concern about prescription drug abuse and intentions to use the prescription drug monitoring program. Clinicians' sense of professional and moral obligation to use the prescription drug monitoring program was unrelated to intention to use the prescription drug monitoring program despite a positive relationship with concern about misuse and abuse. Compared with physicians, pharmacists reported greater concern about prescription drug misuse, greater professional and moral obligation to use prescription drug monitoring program, and greater rating of prescription drug monitoring program usefulness. CONCLUSIONS:Interventions that target normative beliefs surrounding prescription drug monitoring program use and how to use prescription drug monitoring programs effectively are likely to be more effective than those that target professional obligations or moralize to the medical community.

Background & Aims: The emotional underpinnings that facilitate and complicate the practice of ethical principles like respect warrant sustained interdisciplinary attention. In this article, I suggest that shame is a requisite component of the emotional repertoire than makes respect for persons possible. Materials & Methods: I use person‐centered interview data from a sample of 54 physicians (including 35 surgeons), 60% of whom are women, to examine the emergence and endurance of shame as a mood with moral significance. Drawing on anthropologist Throop's concept of a moral mood, I explore physicians' first‐person narratives of the endurance of shame experiences. Results: Narratives demonstrate that shame inheres in biomedical contexts that reinforce the physician's responsibilization and culpability for events beyond their control. As a persistent cognitive and affective state, mooded shame is a recursive and compulsory motive force for a physician's dynamic evolution as a moral actor. Discussion: Variably distressing, looming and commonplace, mooded shame becomes an atmospheric and imaginative mode through which physicians contemplate their responsibilities and connections to patients. Sometimes in a hypercognized manner that conceals its emotional roots, physicians link the mood of shame to their incessant efforts to fulfill responsibilities to each unique patient. Conclusion: I suggest that through reflection made possible within mooded shame, physicians develop a sense of being both accountable to and alongside patients, and I explore the ties between this position and philosophical concepts of respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Advances in technology in recent decades have affected health care and led to moral distress. Moral distress is a concept that remains ambiguous in neonatal intensive care nursing. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of analyzing moral distress in the neonatal intensive care unit, using Rogers' evolutionary approach. Materials and Methods: This review study was done with the evolutionary approach of Rogers concept analysis. In the literature review stage, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, Magiran, medex Iran, SID, Scopus databases were searched using the keywords of the concept of moral distress, neonatal special care, without a time limit until August 2022. After removing the articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria, the full text of all the articles that met the inclusion criteria was prepared and analyzed. Results: In this study, the characteristics of this concept were determined under the title of emotional and psychological pain and discomfort, real or mental limitations, moral mistakes or failure to make moral decisions. Antecedents of this concept in dimensions; There are individual factors, social-environmental factors, cultural factors, organizational factors and institutional policies, and its consequences were identified in two physical and psychological dimensions. Conclusions: The findings of this study, by clarifying the concept of moral distress in the neonatal intensive care unit, can help in the development of theories and even the construction of needed tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely held that to break a promise that one made to a person who is now dead would be to wrong her. This view undergirds many positions in bioethics, ranging from those that concern who may access a person's medical records after she has died, to questions concerning organ procurement and posthumous procreation. Ashley Dressel has argued that there is no reason to believe that promissory obligations can be owed to people who are dead. Although her arguments are unsuccessful, others establish that neither of the promissory obligation accounts that she considers (the "Authority Account" and the "harm-based view") can justify the standard view that directed posthumous promissory obligation is possible. However, this does not mean that the received view that we should keep our promises to the dead is mistaken. First, the theoretical commitments and argumentative strategies of those who endorse the possibility of posthumous promissory obligations preclude them from grounding such on either of these accounts of directed promissory obligation. They are thus already committed to justifying such obligations in other ways. Second, the obligation to keep promises to the dead could be justified on the grounds that not to do so would adversely affect the living., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fluctuating nurse resignation rates highlighted an understudied area in healthcare: post-pandemic challenges in clinical settings. This study, conducted from May to November 2023, employed a qualitative inquiry using focus groups to delve into these challenges. Six focus group sessions, involving 33 nurse participants recruited through snowball sampling from various hospital settings were conducted to explore their clinical experiences during and after the pandemic. Thematic analysis revealed two primary themes: the 'Invisibility of Nurses' within the healthcare system and the 'Moral Duty of Nursing Practice'. These findings illuminate a tension between the overlooked role of nurses and their ethical obligations, underscoring a critical need for policy reassessment. The study advocates for systemic changes, particularly in the undervaluation of the nursing profession and the National Health Insurance system, to address the poor working environment and mitigate long-term nursing shortages. This research deepens understanding of post-pandemic nursing workforce challenges in Taiwan, highlighting the need for policy evolution to enhance recognition and support for the nursing industry. It is suggested to provide tangible compensation to acknowledge nurses' daily care and health education for patients. A healthier working environment can be enhanced by collaborative efforts between healthcare institutions and nurses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Currently, in the United States, there is no legal obligation for medical professionals or civil courts to uphold patients' Advance Directives (ADs) regarding end-of-life care. The applicability and standing of ADs prepared by Alzheimer's patients is a persistent issue in bioethics. Those who argue against giving ADs full status take two main approaches: (1) appealing to beneficence on behalf of the Alzheimer's patient and (2) claiming that there is no longer any personal equivalence between the AD's creator and the subject of the AD. In this paper, I present profound arguments against both approaches. Firstly, I argue that the principle of beneficence cannot apply in the case of Alzheimer's patients, and, secondly, that the moral and legal authority of the AD need not depend on strict equivalence of personal identity. I conclude by arguing that valid ADs protect the dignity and autonomy of Alzheimer's patients and that, therefore, there are moral obligations to uphold ADs which should be reflected in public policy and legislation., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

An increasing vaccine hesitancy among parents, which has resulted in insufficient rates of immunization, provides reason to reconsider childhood vaccination practices. Studies suggest that parents' decision-making process concerning whether to vaccinate their child is highly influenced by cognitive biases. These biases can be utilized to increase vaccination uptake via changes in the choice context. This article considers childhood vaccination programmes, which involve children being vaccinated in school or daycare unless their parents actively 'opt out'. We suggest that such programmes reconcile parents' decisional authority and vaccination duties. First, opt-out childhood vaccination based in schools or daycare centres are not disrespectful of parental authority. Second, the programme aligns the default setting with a moral obligation to vaccinate one's child that most parents have., (© 2024 The Author(s). Bioethics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

In this paper, we examine how social identity, moral obligation and the relationship between the two shaped support for the 2016 Academics for Peace petition in Turkey. We examine the pre-trial statements of nine defendants charged for signing the petition and appearing in court on the same day in December 2018. We first conduct an inductive thematic analysis on one statement, and then, using the themes from this analysis, we conducted a deductive thematic analysis on the remaining eight statements. In line with the existing studies, we find considerable evidence that social identity and moral obligation are invoked as key reasons for signing in this highly repressive context. However, rather than these being separate factors, the two are reciprocally constitutive. That is, social identities define moral obligations and, at the same time, enacting moral obligations defines identity (both the position of the individual in the group and the nature of the group in the world). In discussion, we consider the broader implications of a moralized view of social identities for our understanding of both collective action and social identity processes more generally., (© 2024 The Author(s). British Journal of Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

In a series of papers in the early 1970s and in his important book Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life (1975), Baruch Brody offered what remains to this day one of the most philosophically rigorous contributions to the debate concerning the morality of abortion and the ethics of homicide more generally. In this paper I would like to critically examine Brody's argument that abortion is sometimes justifiable in some cases even when (1) one cannot claim self-defense, or (2) diminished responsibility, and (3) the abortion is a 'killing' rather than a 'not saving.' This justification, I argue, is limited to certain cases in which the life of the mother is at stake. The cautious principle which he finally formulates merits serious attention and consideration. While I find a great deal of value in Brody's discussion, I will argue that there are several difficulties with the principle of justifiable homicide he constructs. Accordingly, I will further amend and supplement his final version by offering my own alternative principle., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

As the principle of respect for patient autonomy has gained salience over the past 75 years, surgeons now struggle to resolve conflicts between autonomy and beneficence in certain clinical scenarios. One such conflict occurs when a patient desires a surgical intervention, but the surgeon concludes that the patient is "too sick for surgery" and hence would not benefit from the operation. We provide historical context for the principle of respect for patient autonomy and review recent qualitative data that demonstrate surgeons experience significant moral distress when asked to perform nonbeneficial surgery. Therefore, we sought to empower surgeons with the appropriate ethical justifications to decline to perform surgery when they believe it would be nonbeneficial or harmful to patients. We outline 4 concepts that can help surgeons engage with patients, families, and colleagues in these scenarios. First, we describe the term "futility" and explain the difficulty in precisely defining and using the term in practice. Second, we contrast patients' positive and negative rights, drawing on historical context to argue that patients have robust negative rights but limited positive rights to request nonbeneficial interventions. Third, we use the centuries-old notion of medicine as a profession to show that surgeons have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of their patients, including and especially when patients request interventions that are not beneficial. Finally, we draw on virtue ethics to give surgeons character-based resources for fulfilling their professional obligations to patients. We contend that surgeons owe their patients the ability to trust that they will always use their knowledge and skills for patients' benefit, even if surgeons must limit patients' autonomy in certain ways to do so., (Copyright © 2024 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

A patient who requests an amputation deemed medically unnecessary by professionals is disqualified per se from being regarded as having medical decision-making capacity. This decision is based on the assumption that there is an option to pursue something other than amputation; such an assumption in many cases overflows into therapeutic obstinacy. This is the case for individuals who have ill or damaged body parts and who wish to avoid recurrent and painful medical treatment designed to save the limb, as well as for individuals affected by body integrity dysphoria (BID). BID is a condition that is recognised by the WHO and is included in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th edition. Individuals who are affected develop an intense feeling of overcompleteness of their body configuration, which leads to the development of a strong sense of dysphoria and consequently the desire to amputate in order to remove the source of such discomfort. In the few cases in which amputation has been carried out, the results have proved successful; the individual's quality of life has improved and they have had no new amputation desires. No medical therapy, including medical amputation, is available currently for individuals affected by the condition. This situation leads many with BID to mutilate themselves. Such events create a challenging ethical dilemma for the medical world.The present paper is focused on the capacity of the individual with BID to do other than request amputation and the implications that this carries regarding moral responsibility. It is proposed that the autonomy of the patient cannot be disqualified by default based on the amputation request, despite its oddity, and that any scepticism demonstrated by the physicians is based on a false preconception of ill will or ignorance, which results in a blaming attitude towards the requesting person., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

If we assume that nonhuman animals experience pain or distress, then ethically justifying human-centered research with only nonhuman animals as subjects likely requires that the research's benefits to humans must, at least, outweigh harms suffered by the nonhuman animals. Yet this reasoning does not seem to account well for the ethical view that nonhuman animals are morally valuable in their own right. This commentary on a case considers this ethical tension and discusses how clinician-researchers should navigate it. This commentary also suggests why clinician-researchers' reasoning about the nature and scope of their obligations to nonhuman animals extends beyond governing regulations and federal oversight, which is silent on or ambiguous about nonhuman animals as morally valuable in their own right., (Copyright 2024 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest and Sources of Funding: None declared.

We advocate in this little assay for the concept of active retirement. We feel the need to broadcast our experience to younger professionals. Mentor, Telemachus' advisor in the Odyssey, has evolved greatly into the 21st century. From an ideal point of view, we consider that clinical practice is inextricably linked to research. Within the public health system there is an ethical space for volunteering. Perhaps it is what Anglo-Saxon primary care calls "vocational training"., (Copyright © 2024 SEGG. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

A woman's right to a safe legal abortion in South Africa conflicts with a health care professional's freedom of conscience. Conscientious objection or treatment refusal on the basis of conscience may be protected by the constitution but its morality has not been explored. This study uses Kantian Deontology to elucidate the ethical duties of health care professionals based on the Physician's Pledge. It concludes that conscience is morally empty and that health care professionals have a duty to treat all patients equally irrespective of the condition they present. Drawing on Kantian promise keeping, the study also concludes that health care professionals should place patients health and wellbeing above all other considerations. Using the categorical imperative, the study shows that health care professionals have a perfect duty not to refuse treatment. The study recommends that conscientious objection be rejected in all circumstances except where the psychological wellbeing of the health care professional will be affected. This can be achieved through legislative and professional body regulation of conscientious objection., (© 2023 The Authors. Developing World Bioethics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

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This paper examines how illness narratives are used in medical education and their implications for clinicians' thinking and care of patients. Ideally, collecting and reading illness narratives can enhance clinicians' sensitivity and contextual thinking. And yet these narratives have become part of institutionalizing cultural competency requirements in ways that tend to favor standardization. Stereotyping and reductionistic thinking can result from these pedagogic approaches and obscure structural inequities. We end by asking how we might best teach and read illness narratives to fulfill the ethical obligations of listening and asking more informative clinical interview questions that can better meet the needs of patients and the community.

Some early phase clinical studies of candidate HIV cure and remission interventions appear to have adverse medical risk-benefit ratios for participants. Why, then, do people participate? And is it ethically permissible to allow them to participate? Recent work in decision theory sheds light on both of these questions, by casting doubt on the idea that rational individuals prefer choices that maximise expected utility, and therefore by casting doubt on the idea that researchers have an ethical obligation not to enrol participants in studies with high risk-benefit ratios. This work supports the view that researchers should instead defer to the considered preferences of the participants themselves. This essay briefly explains this recent work, and then explores its application to these two questions in more detail.