Ownership rights to tissue donated for research end when the tissue leaves the body, as does all claim to benefit from commercial cell lines or other products derived from the tissue.
Physicians should encourage pharmaceutical companies to make socially responsible funding decisions and take an active role in setting biomedical research priorities by advocating for fair and effective allocations of public and private biomedical R & D investments.
A Canadian physician reports there is systematic bias to the outcome of published research funded by the pharmaceutical industry and believes more steps need to be taken to improve the integrity of clinical research reports in the United States and Canada.
Refusals of psychotropic medication by detained criminal defendants raise conflicting dual loyalties for psychiatrists between the duty to treat a patient and the duty to protect society from that patient.
Physicians need to help surrogate decision makers to make treatment and end-of-life decisions for those with severe neurological damage by proving a realistic prognosis and maintain strong lines of communication.
A centralized registry to provide information to consumers regarding the effectiveness of clinical trials is needed to help patients make informed decisions about treatment.
An ethical case explores a lawsuit against Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center of Seattle by patients who claimed they were not told of the full risks associated with a clinical trial they participated in.