Andrew M. Courtwright, MA and Mia Wechsler Doron, MTS, MD
A positive right to parenthood obligates others to support a person’s attempt to become a parent. Do physicians have a duty to assist their patients’ procreative efforts, and, if so, in what ways?
An emerging medical ethics issue is whether to delay posting pathology reports to electronic health records (EHR) to allow clinicians time to follow up.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(8):826-832. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.8.pfor1-1608.
Research is often conducted without the knowledge or consent of those whose tissues are banked and poses possible harms to social groups if information about a few members is unscientifically applied to all.
Federal regulations governing egg donation fall into two categories: safety testing and truth in advertising. Neither deals directly with informed consent by, for example, specifying what information donors must be given.
If the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's recommendations for egg-donor compensation limits have been successful, they violate antitrust law. If they are ineffective, egg donors are not being sufficiently protected against coercion and commodification.
To be best able to respond if third parties in assisted reproduction contracts break their terms, physicians should familiarize themselves with the contracts, encourage all parties to self-disclose, and, failing that, disclose material information to the other party.