Research ethics should be included in the medical school curriculum so students and residents can fully understand the ethical implications of medical research.
Sheldon Zink, PhD, Rachel Zeehandelaar, and Stacey Wertlieb, MBe
The benefits of the international presumed-consent policy are presented as a solution to the United States' current shortage of organs available for transplantation.
The genetic engineering of organ-donor animals to decrease the risk of human immune system rejection poses ethical and psychological challenges to the long-held boundary between humans and other animal species.
The implementation of breakthrough quality improvement initiatives has been successful in closing the gap between the number of organs that are available and the number of patients who need them.
While there are benefits to genetic screening during pregnancy, parents must not let their desire for a genetically perfect child allow them to terminate a pregnancy because of non-medical factors.
The ethical questions surrounding the recruitment of patients for clinical trials become more complicated when the recruiting physicians receive financial benefits for each patient enrolled.
The ethical questions surrounding the recruitment of patients for clinical trials become more complicated when the recruiting physicians receive financial benefits for each patient enrolled.
Physicians need to take an active role in improving the genetic literacy of the general population and also push for public health policies that make new genetic tools available to everyone.