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Ethics in Public Health, medical law, and health policy

Section edited by Stuart Nicholls and Jeremy Snyder

This section will include manuscripts focused on ethical aspects of public health, health promotion and government action related to health care, as well as manuscripts focused on ethical questions in health care policies, judicial decisions and legislation relating to medical issues.

Page 1 of 4

  1. Over recent years, the research community has been increasingly using preprint servers to share manuscripts that are not yet peer-reviewed. Even if it enables quick dissemination of research findings, this pra...

    Authors: Raffaella Ravinetto, Céline Caillet, Muhammad H. Zaman, Jerome Amir Singh, Philippe J. Guerin, Aasim Ahmad, Carlos E. Durán, Amar Jesani, Ana Palmero, Laura Merson, Peter W. Horby, E. Bottieau, Tammy Hoffmann and Paul N. Newton

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:106

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  3. Solitary death (kodokushi) has recently become recognized as a social issue in Japan. The social isolation of older people leads to death without dignity. With the outbreak of COVID-19, efforts to eliminate solit...

    Authors: Eisuke Nakazawa, Keiichiro Yamamoto, Alex John London and Akira Akabayashi

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:89

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  4. The use of genetic test results in risk-rated insurance is a significant concern internationally, with many countries banning or restricting the use of genetic test results in underwriting. In Australia, life ...

    Authors: Jane Tiller, Aideen McInerney-Leo, Andrea Belcher, Tiffany Boughtwood, Penny Gleeson, Martin Delatycki, Kristine Barlow-Stewart, Ingrid Winship, Margaret Otlowski, Louise Keogh and Paul Lacaze

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:63

    Content type: Study protocol

    Published on:

  5. We examine the incidence of medical tribunal decisions and disciplinary actions (DAs) against healthcare professionals (HCPs). In addition, we studied whether an intimate relationship between an HCP and patien...

    Authors: Wim Rietdijk and Sander Renes

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:60

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  6. Definition and concept of the ‘beginning of human life’ are weakened by co-existing contrasting hypotheses based on humanistic or religious beliefs rather than scientific foundations. This plethora of conceptu...

    Authors: Daniela Polese, Marcella Fagioli, Fabio Virgili and Paolo Fiori Nastro

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:57

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  8. Suicide research aims to contribute to a better understanding of suicidal behaviour and its prevention. However, there are many ethical challenges in this research field, for example, regarding consent and pot...

    Authors: Emma Barnard, Georgia Dempster, Karolina Krysinska, Lennart Reifels, Jo Robinson, Jane Pirkis and Karl Andriessen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:41

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  9. This paper highlights the issues that one of the 90 Italian Research Ethics Committees (RECs) might encounter during the approval phase of a clinical trial to identify corrective and preventive actions for pro...

    Authors: G. Benfatto and F. Drago

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:40

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:52

  11. Whereas many adolescents and young people with HIV require the transfer of care from paediatric/adolescent clinics to adult ART clinics, this transition is beset with a multitude of factors that have the poten...

    Authors: Scovia Nalugo Mbalinda, Sabrina Bakeera-Kitaka, Derrick Lusota Amooti, Eleanor Namusoke Magongo, Philippa Musoke and Dan Kabonge Kaye

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:35

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  12. As opioid use disorder (OUD) incidence and its associated deaths continue to persist at elevated rates, the development of novel treatment modalities is warranted. Recent strides in this therapeutic area inclu...

    Authors: Vincent Wartenweiler, Grace Chung, Amy Stewart and Cody Wenthur

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:30

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  13. Medical assistance in dying (MAID) has been legal in Québec since December 2015 and in the rest of Canada since July 2016. Since then, more than 60 people have donated their organs after MAID. Such donations r...

    Authors: Julie Allard, Fabian Ballesteros and Marie-Chantal Fortin

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:23

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  14. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been described as the “fourth industrial revolution” with transformative and global implications, including in healthcare, public health, and global health. AI approaches hold ...

    Authors: Kathleen Murphy, Erica Di Ruggiero, Ross Upshur, Donald J. Willison, Neha Malhotra, Jia Ce Cai, Nakul Malhotra, Vincci Lui and Jennifer Gibson

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:14

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  16. Critical public health measures implemented to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic have disrupted health research worldwide, including HIV prevention research. While genera...

    Authors: Stuart Rennie, Wairimu Chege, Leah A. Schrumpf, Florencia Luna, Robert Klitzman, Ernest Moseki, Brandon Brown, Steven Wakefield and Jeremy Sugarman

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2021 22:6

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  19. Paternalism/overprotection limits communication between healthcare professionals and patients and does not promote shared therapeutic decision-making. In the global north, communication patterns have been regu...

    Authors: Eduardo Lazcano-Ponce, Angelica Angeles-Llerenas, Rocío Rodríguez-Valentín, Luis Salvador-Carulla, Rosalinda Domínguez-Esponda, Claudia Iveth Astudillo-García, Eduardo Madrigal-de León and Gregorio Katz

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:125

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  20. The perception of organ donation and brain death among Syrian population has not been previously explored. The goal of this study is to evaluate the attitude and knowledge of organ donation among Syrians and t...

    Authors: Mario Tarzi, Malke Asaad, Joudi Tarabishi, Obada Zayegh, Rama Hamza, Ahmad Alhamid, Aya Zazo and Mohamad Morjan

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:123

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  21. There has been considerable investment and strategic planning to introduce genomic testing into Australia’s public health system. As more patients’ genomic data is being held by the public health system, there...

    Authors: Miranda E. Vidgen, Sid Kaladharan, Eva Malacova, Cameron Hurst and Nicola Waddell

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:119

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  22. In Spain, there has been great effort by lawmakers to put Advance Directives (ADs) into practice since 2002. At the same time, the field of bioethics has been on the rise, a discipline that has spurred debate ...

    Authors: Benjamín Herreros, María Benito, Pablo Gella, Emanuele Valenti, Beatriz Sánchez and Tayra Velasco

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:113

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  23. An analysis of the position statements of secular US medical and surgical professional societies on physician-assisted suicide (PAS) and euthanasia have not been published recently. Available statements were e...

    Authors: Joseph G. Barsness, Casey R. Regnier, C. Christopher Hook and Paul S. Mueller

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:111

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  26. The opioid epidemic has enabled rapid and unsurpassed use of big data on people with opioid use disorder to design initiatives to battle the public health crisis, generally without adequate input from impacted...

    Authors: Elizabeth A. Evans, Elizabeth Delorme, Karl Cyr and Daniel M. Goldstein

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:101

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  27. Regulations on forgoing life-sustaining treatment (LST) have developed in Asian countries including Japan, Korea and Taiwan. However, other countries are relatively unaware of these due to the language barrier...

    Authors: Miho Tanaka, Satoshi Kodama, Ilhak Lee, Richard Huxtable and Yicheng Chung

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:99

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  28. The Arab population in Israel is a minority ethnic group with its own distinct cultural subgroups. Minority populations are known to underutilize genetic tests and counseling services, thereby undermining the ...

    Authors: Nehama Cohen-Kfir, Miriam Ethel Bentwich, Andrew Kent, Nomy Dickman, Mary Tanus, Basem Higazi, Limor Kalfon, Mary Rudolf and Tzipora C. Falik-Zaccai

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:98

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  30. Human genome editing technologies offer much potential benefit. However, central to any conversation relating to the application of such technologies are certain ethical, legal, and social difficulties around ...

    Authors: Beverley A. Townsend

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:95

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  32. In response to COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Uganda adopted public health measures to contain its spread in the country. Some of the initial measures included refusal to repatriate citizens studying in Chi...

    Authors: John Barugahare, Fredrick Nelson Nakwagala, Erisa Mwaka Sabakaki, Joseph Ochieng and Nelson K Sewankambo

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:91

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  33. Whenever South African (SA) research institutions share human biological material and associated data for health research or clinical trials they are legally compelled to have a material transfer agreement (MT...

    Authors: Donrich W. Thaldar, Marietjie Botes and Annelize Nienaber

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:85

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:120

  34. Pharmacists as the trustee of pharmacy services must adhere to ethical principles and evaluate their professionalism. Pharmacists may sometimes show different unethical behaviors in their interactions, so it i...

    Authors: Mahla Iranmanesh, Vahid Yazdi-Feyzabadi and Mohammad Hossein Mehrolhassani

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:84

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  35. Organ donation following brain death has become an important way of supplying organs for transplantation in many countries. This practice is less common in Iran for different reasons. Therefore, this study aim...

    Authors: Parvin Abbasi, Javad Yoosefi Lebni, Paricher Nouri, Arash Ziapour and Amir Jalali

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:83

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  36. Health service delivery should ensure ethical principles are observed at all levels of healthcare. Working towards this goal requires understanding the ethics-related priorities and concerns in the day-to-day ...

    Authors: David Musoke, Charles Ssemugabo, Rawlance Ndejjo, Sassy Molyneux and Elizabeth Ekirapa-Kiracho

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:68

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  42. Euthanasia can be thought of as being either active or passive; but the precise definition of “passive euthanasia” is not always clear. Though all passive euthanasia involves the withholding of life-sustaining...

    Authors: Iain Brassington

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:41

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  45. Biomarker research is gaining increasing attention focusing on the preclinical stages of the disease. Such interest requires special attention for communication and disclosure in clinical contexts. Many countr...

    Authors: Zümrüt Alpinar-Sencan and Silke Schicktanz

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:33

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  46. Outbreaks of infectious disease cause serious and costly health and social problems. Two new technologies – pathogen whole genome sequencing (WGS) and Big Data analytics – promise to improve our capacity to de...

    Authors: Chris Degeling, Stacy M. Carter, Antoine M. van Oijen, Jeremy McAnulty, Vitali Sintchenko, Annette Braunack-Mayer, Trent Yarwood, Jane Johnson and Gwendolyn L. Gilbert

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:31

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  47. Chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy treatments may cause premature ovarian failure and irreversible loss of fertility. In the context of childhood cancers, it is now acknowledged that possible negative effects of...

    Authors: Aliya Oulaya Affdal, Michael Grynberg, Laila Hessissen and Vardit Ravitsky

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:25

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  48. Approximately 7% of the general population is affected by an orphan disease, which, in the United States, is defined as affecting fewer than 1 in 1500 people. Disease awareness is often low and time-to-diagnos...

    Authors: Konstantin Mechler, Juliane Rausch, William K. Mountford and Markus Ries

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:20

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  49. Precision medicine (PM) is an emerging approach to individualized care. It aims to help physicians better comprehend and predict the needs of their patients while effectively adopting in a timely manner the mo...

    Authors: Lester Darryl Geneviève, Andrea Martani, David Shaw, Bernice Simone Elger and Tenzin Wangmo

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:17

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  50. The Ethiopian law on abortion was liberalized in 2005. However, as a strongly religious country, the new law has remained controversial from the outset. Many abortion providers have religious allegiances, whic...

    Authors: Demelash Bezabih Ewnetu, Viva Combs Thorsen, Jan Helge Solbakk and Morten Magelssen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:16

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

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Annual Journal Metrics

  • Speed
    122 days to first decision for reviewed manuscripts only
    85 days to first decision for all manuscripts
    235 days from submission to acceptance
    16 days from acceptance to publication

    Citation Impact
    2.652 - 2-year Impact Factor
    3.499 - 5-year Impact Factor
    1.869 - Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
    1.075 - SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)

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BMC Medical Ethics

ISSN: 1472-6939

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