Philosophy of medicine ≈ Philosophy of medicine
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Who is afraid of black box algorithms? On the epistemological and ethical basis of trust in medical AI Open
The use of black box algorithms in medicine has raised scholarly concerns due to their opaqueness and lack of trustworthiness. Concerns about potential bias, accountability and responsibility, patient autonomy and compromised trust transpi…
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Public responses to the sharing and linkage of health data for research purposes: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies Open
Whilst the results indicate widespread (conditional) public support for data sharing and linkage for research purposes, a range of concerns exist. In order to ensure public support for future research uses of data greater awareness raising…
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Ethical aspects of brain computer interfaces: a scoping review Open
We conclude that future research should focus on remedying a lack of practical solutions to the ethical challenges of BCI, alongside the collection of empirical data on the perspectives of the public, BCI users, and BCI researchers.
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The new holism: P4 systems medicine and the medicalization of health and life itself Open
The emerging concept of systems medicine (or 'P4 medicine'-predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory) is at the vanguard of the post-genomic movement towards 'precision medicine'. It is the medical application of systems biolo…
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Foucault and Feminist Philosophy of Disability Open
For these last two decades, the work of Shelley L. Tremain has been a point of reference in strands of disability studies scholarship rooted in the philosophical ideas of Michel Foucault. This monograph consolidates Tremain’s position as a…
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What is My Role in Changing the System? A New Model of Responsibility for Structural Injustice Open
What responsibility do individuals bear for structural injustice? Iris Marion Young has offered the most fully developed account to date, the Social Connections Model. She argues that we all bear responsibility because we each causally con…
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Responsible data sharing in international health research: a systematic review of principles and norms Open
While providing some helpful leads for further work on a coherent governance framework for data sharing, the current collection of principles and norms prompts important questions about how to streamline terminology regarding de-identifica…
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Will COVID-19 be evidence-based medicine’s nemesis? Open
Once defined in rhetorical but ultimately meaningless terms as "the conscientious, judicious and explicit use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients" [1], evidence-based medicine rests on certain…
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Chatbot breakthrough in the 2020s? An ethical reflection on the trend of automated consultations in health care Open
Many experts have emphasised that chatbots are not sufficiently mature to be able to technically diagnose patient conditions or replace the judgements of health professionals. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has significantly increased the…
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Clinical Ethics Support for Healthcare Personnel: An Integrative Literature Review Open
This study describes which clinical ethics approaches are available to support healthcare personnel in clinical practice in terms of their construction, functions and goals. Healthcare personnel frequently face ethically difficult situatio…
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The moral obligation to be vaccinated: utilitarianism, contractualism, and collective easy rescue Open
We argue that individuals who have access to vaccines and for whom vaccination is not medically contraindicated have a moral obligation to contribute to the realisation of herd immunity by being vaccinated. Contrary to what some have claim…
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Digital tools in the informed consent process: a systematic review Open
Background Providing understandable information to patients is necessary to achieve the aims of the Informed Consent process: respecting and promoting patients’ autonomy and protecting patients from harm. In recent decades, new, primarily …
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Are open‐Label Placebos Ethical? Informed Consent and Ethical Equivocations Open
The doctor‐patient relationship is built on an implicit covenant of trust, yet it was not until the post‐World War Two era that respect for patient autonomy emerged as an article of mainstream medical ethics. Unlike their medical forebears…
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Bioethics education in clinical settings: theory and practice of the dilemma method of moral case deliberation Open
The specific didactics of the dilemma method is well suited for teaching bioethics in clinical settings. The dilemma method follows an inductive learning approach through a dialogical moral inquiry in which participants develop not only kn…
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Killing by Autonomous Vehicles and the Legal Doctrine of Necessity Open
How should autonomous vehicles (aka self-driving cars) be programmed to behave in the event of an unavoidable accident in which the only choice open is one between causing different damages or losses to different objects or persons? This p…
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Smart homes, private homes? An empirical study of technology researchers’ perceptions of ethical issues in developing smart-home health technologies Open
The tractability of informational privacy may explain the greater attention that is paid to it. However, concerns about physical privacy may reduce acceptability of smart-home technologies to future end-users. While attention to choice sug…
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Euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with an intellectual disability and/or autism spectrum disorder: an examination of nine relevant euthanasia cases in the Netherlands (2012–2016) Open
Autonomy and decisional capacity are highly complex for patients with intellectual disabilities and difficult to assess; capacity tests in these cases did not appear sufficiently stringent. Assessment of suffering is particularly difficult…
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Integrated primary health care in low- and middle-income countries: a double challenge Open
In the context that characterizes many low- and middle-income countries today, better aid coordination and public health systems strengthening, as promoted by multisectoral approaches, might be among the best options to sustainably and eth…
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Ethical issues in pragmatic randomized controlled trials: a review of the recent literature identifies gaps in ethical argumentation Open
The current ethical discussion is framed by the assumption that the function of research oversight is to protect participants from risk. As pragmatic RCTs commonly involve usual care interventions, the risks may be minimal. This leads many…
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Applied interdisciplinary research: a critical realist perspective Open
This article uses the philosophy of critical realism to overcome the problem that most contemporary guidelines for interdisciplinary research fail to provide would-be researchers with adequate advice. It arrives at five important steps in …
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Ethics preparedness: facilitating ethics review during outbreaks - recommendations from an expert panel Open
It is hoped that the national ethics committees, supported by the WHO, relevant collaborative research consortia and external funding agencies, will work towards bringing these recommendations into practice, for supporting the conduct of e…
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Ethical Theory and Moral Practice at 24 Open
This Editorial outlines recent developments in the Journal’s scope, mission and review policy. It also illustrates the range of topics addressed on the pages of Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, which is now entering its 24th year.
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Altered Images: Understanding the Influence of Unrealistic Images and Beauty Aspirations Open
In this paper we consider the impact of digitally altered images on individuals' body satisfaction and beauty aspirations. Drawing on current psychological literature we consider interventions designed to increase knowledge about the ubiqu…
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Perspectivism and the Argument from Guidance Open
Perspectivists hold that what you ought to do is determined by your perspective, that is, your epistemic position. Objectivists hold that what you ought to do is determined by the facts irrespective of your perspective. This paper explores…
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Severity as a Priority Setting Criterion: Setting a Challenging Research Agenda Open
Priority setting in health care is ubiquitous and health authorities are increasingly recognising the need for priority setting guidelines to ensure efficient, fair, and equitable resource allocation. While cost-effectiveness concerns seem…
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Rationing elective surgery for smokers and obese patients: responsibility or prognosis? Open
Given the strength of an alternative justification grounded in clinical effectiveness, rhetoric from NHS authorities should avoid explicit statements, which suggest that personal responsibility is the key justificatory basis of proposed ra…
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Does written informed consent adequately inform surgical patients? A cross sectional study Open
The written IC form is not sufficient in assuring patients and making them fully aware of choices they made for their health; pre-operative information that was delivered orally better served the patients' needs. To improve the quality of …
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Person Centered Care and Personalized Medicine: Irreconcilable Opposites or Potential Companions? Open
In contrast to standardized guidelines, personalized medicine and person centered care are two notions that have recently developed and are aspiring for more individualized health care for each single patient. While having a similar drive …
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HIV/AIDS clients, privacy and confidentiality; the case of two health centres in the Ashanti Region of Ghana Open
The paper argues that by examining issues relating to privacy and confidentiality in the provision of care for and use of services by seropositives, more light will be shed on the whys of the limited uptake of HIV-related health care servi…
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Experiences of pre-hospital emergency medical personnel in ethical decision-making: a qualitative study Open
According to the results, when EMS personnel are faced with ethical dilemmas, they consider the client's values and professional dignity, and perform the assigned tasks within the framework of the regulation. The findings also suggest that…