A major contributor to the lack of medicines in developing countries is an intellectual property regime that allows proprietary drug companies with intellectual property monopolies to charge high prices and maximize profit.
Undocumented patients in the United States with end-stage renal disease receive “compassionate” dialysis. Such patients oscillate between being marginally well and “ill enough” to receive dialysis while clinicians wrestle with complicity in a system that both offers and withholds life-saving therapy.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(8):E778-779. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.778.
Rebekah Davis Reed, PhD, JD and Erik L. Antonsen, PhD, MD
Though the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s collection of disaggregated genetic data for occupational surveillance and research raises numerous privacy concerns, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 allows genetic information to be used to develop personal pharmaceuticals.
AMA J Ethics. 2018; 20(9):E849-856. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2018.849.
Emergency medical consultations share with other emergencies the need for prompt action, potentially without information or tools ordinarily available.
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(5):479-484. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.5.ecas1-1605.
In order to successfully resolve ethical conflicts, bioethics consultants must pay attention to process and heed stakeholders’ perspectives and values.
AMA J Ethics. 2016; 18(5):485-492. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.5.ecas2-1605.