Browse Medical Ethics Articles by Topic

The Reproducibility Crisis in Clinical Trial Research

Theoretically, a researcher should be able to reproduce any clinical trial and see the same or similar findings. Yet the long-standing “reproducibility crisis” in science persists, resulting in a surge of new analyses and recommendations.

NFTs Could Give Patients Control Over Who Accesses Medical Data

Personal health information carries indisputable value to individuals — both clinically and financially. Yet, as it stands, patients have little or no say on how their own health data are shared. Some ethicists argue nonfungible tokens (NFTs) can be used to create a more ethical and transparent system.

May Is National Nurses Month

Leverage the many resources available to meet all your nursing needs.

Informed Consent Considerations if Surgeon Delegates Portion of Operation

Surgeons should be clear there will be other providers in the OR, and that some elements of the operation — not the critical portion the attending has to manage, but other elements — can be delegated to a qualified member of the surgical team. However, the primary attending surgeon’s personal responsibility for the safety and the welfare of the patient cannot be delegated.

New Guidance to Promote Diverse Populations in Cardiovascular Trials

Individuals who participate in randomized clinical trials should be representative of the patients who will be treated with the drugs under investigation. Unfortunately, studies have consistently shown women and those from racial and ethnic minority groups are consistently underenrolled in cardiovascular clinical trials relative to their disease burden in the population.

Investigators Make Ethical Commitment for Neuroscience Research in Humans

There are overarching principles of ethical conduct of human neuroscience research, but the methods and implementations may vary across institutions.

Ethics Training for Community-Engaged Research in Latino Community

Researchers recently provided human research ethics training to community health workers who were studying the effect of an intervention to promote healthy behaviors and expand healthcare access among Latinos.

Plastic Surgery Poses Unique Ethical Considerations

Plastic surgery is a unique specialty in that there are so many procedures a surgeon might be asked to perform. This ranges from reconstructive surgery after cancer to cosmetic surgery to congenital abnormalities and also burn reconstruction. With that comes a whole host of ethical issues.

Use Caution if Machine Learning Models Are Used to Predict Mortality

Machine learning and artificial intelligence will be part of caring for patients in some way or another going forward. Clinicians need to know what it all means and what the potential pitfalls are.

Ethical Controversy Persists Over Organ Procurement Method

Ethical debate continues over a controversial method of procuring organs for transplantation: Normothermic regional perfusion with controlled donation after circulatory determination of death.