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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.

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  1. 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:

  7. 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:

  10. 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:

  11. 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

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  12. 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

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  13. 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

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  14. 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:

  15. 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:

  16. The progress of electronic health technologies and biobanks holds enormous promise for efficient research. Evidence shows that studies based on sharing and secondary use of data/samples have the potential to s...

    Authors: Lara Bernasconi, Selçuk Şen, Luca Angerame, Apolo P. Balyegisawa, Damien Hong Yew Hui, Maximilian Hotter, Chung Y. Hsu, Tatsuya Ito, Francisca Jörger, Wolfgang Krassnitzer, Adam T. Phillips, Rui Li, Louise Stockley, Fabian Tay, Charlotte von Heijne Widlund, Ming Wan…

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2020 21:8

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  19. Much like academic-industry partnerships, industry financial support of patient advocacy organizations (PAOs) has become very common in recent years. While financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) between PAOs a...

    Authors: Orna Ehrlich, Laura Wingate, Caren Heller and Inmaculada de Melo-Martin

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:96

    Content type: Debate

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  20. Reasonable disagreement about the role awarded to gamete donors in decision-making on the use of embryos created by gamete donation (EGDs) for research purposes emphasises the importance of considering the imp...

    Authors: I. Baía, C. de Freitas, C. Samorinha, V. Provoost and S. Silva

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:90

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  22. Recent scientific advances in the field of gene editing have led to a renewed discussion on the moral acceptability of human germline modifications. Gene editing methods can be used on human embryos and gamete...

    Authors: Alix Lenia v. Hammerstein, Matthias Eggel and Nikola Biller-Andorno

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:83

    Content type: Debate

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  23. Since 2010 the People’s Republic of China has been engaged in an effort to reform its system of organ transplantation by developing a voluntary organ donation and allocation infrastructure. This has required a...

    Authors: Matthew P. Robertson, Raymond L. Hinde and Jacob Lavee

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:79

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  24. There is little dispute that the ideal moral standard for surgical informed consent calls for surgeons to carry out a disclosure dialogue with patients before they sign the informed consent form. This narrativ...

    Authors: Gillie Gabay and Yaarit Bokek-Cohen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:77

    Content type: Research article

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  25. Controversies arise over abortion, assisted dying and conscientious objection (CO) in healthcare. The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between attitudes towards these bioethical dilemmas, a...

    Authors: Morten Magelssen, Nhat Quang Le and Magne Supphellen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:65

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  26. Although euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) in people with psychiatric disorders is relatively rare, the increasing incidence of EAS requests has given rise to public and political debate. This study aimed ...

    Authors: Kirsten Evenblij, H. Roeline W. Pasman, Agnes van der Heide, Johannes J. M. van Delden and Bregje D. Onwuteaka-Philipsen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:62

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  27. Notwithstanding fears of overly permissive approaches and related pleas to refuse euthanasia for psychological suffering, some Belgian hospitals have declared that such requests could be admissible. However, s...

    Authors: M. Verhofstadt, K. Audenaert, K. Van Assche, S. Sterckx and K. Chambaere

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:59

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  29. The field of bioethics has evolved over the past half-century, incorporating new domains of inquiry that signal developments in health research, clinical practice, public health in its broadest sense and more ...

    Authors: Gail Robson, Nathan Gibson, Alison Thompson, Solomon Benatar and Avram Denburg

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:53

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  30. The non-identity problem arises when our actions in the present could change which people will exist in the future, for better or worse. Is it morally better to improve the lives of specific future people, as ...

    Authors: Keyur Doolabh, Lucius Caviola, Julian Savulescu, Michael J. Selgelid and Dominic Wilkinson

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:46

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  31. There is a need for empirically based research on social and ethical challenges related to informed consent processes, particularly in studies focusing on adolescent sexual and reproductive health. In a pilot ...

    Authors: Joseph Mumba Zulu, Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Karen Marie Moland, Patrick Musonda, Ecloss Munsaka and Astrid Blystad

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:45

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  32. Emerging genomic technologies promise more efficient infectious disease control. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly being used in tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, surveillance, and epidemiology. However...

    Authors: Carly Jackson, Jennifer L. Gardy, Hedieh C. Shadiloo and Diego S. Silva

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:43

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  33. Armed conflict in Darfur, west Sudan since 2003 has led to the influx of about 100 international humanitarian UN and non-governmental organizations to help the affected population. Many of their humanitarian i...

    Authors: Ghaiath Hussein and Khalifa Elmusharaf

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:40

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  34. The exportation of unethical practices to low- and middle-income countries (“Ethics Dumping”) has been conceived as a prevalent practice which needs to be examined more closely. Such a practice might point tow...

    Authors: Novoa-Heckel Germán and Bernabe Rosemarie

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:38

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  35. Sickle cell anemia (SCA) is a major genetic disease with the greatest burden in sub-Saharan Africa. To try to help reduce this burden, some churches in Nigeria conduct premarital sickle cell hemoglobin screeni...

    Authors: Euzebus C. Ezugwu, Pauline E. Osamor and David Wendler

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:37

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  37. Endeavors have been made to found and incorporate ethical values in most aspects of healthcare, including health technology assessment. Health technologies and their assessment are value-laden and could trigge...

    Authors: Amal Matar, Mats G. Hansson and Anna T. Höglund

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:25

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  38. Medical assistance in dying (MAID) was legalized in Canada in 2016. As of July 2017, approximately 2149 patients have accessed MAID. There remains no national-level data on the perspectives of future physician...

    Authors: James Falconer, Félix Couture, Koray K. Demir, Michael Lang, Zachary Shefman and Mark Woo

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:22

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  39. In December 2017, Law 219/2017, ‘Provisions for informed consent and advance directives’, was approved in Italy. The law is the culmination of a year-long process and the subject of heated debate throughout It...

    Authors: Marco Di Paolo, Federica Gori, Luigi Papi and Emanuela Turillazzi

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:17

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

  40. In Victoria, Australia, the law regulating abortion was reformed in 2008, and a clause (‘Section 8’) was introduced requiring doctors with a conscientious objection to abortion to refer women to another provid...

    Authors: Louise Anne Keogh, Lynn Gillam, Marie Bismark, Kathleen McNamee, Amy Webster, Christine Bayly and Danielle Newton

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2019 20:11

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  43. Norway’s liberal abortion law allows for abortion on social indications, yet access to screening for fetal abnormalities is restricted. Norwegian regulation of, and public discourse about prenatal screening an...

    Authors: Morten Magelssen, Berge Solberg, Magne Supphellen and Guttorm Haugen

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:80

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  45. In most socialised health systems there are formal processes that manage resource scarcity and determine the allocation of funds to health services in accordance with their priority. In this analysis, part of ...

    Authors: Siun Gallagher, Miles Little and Claire Hooker

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:75

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  46. Task shifting is increasingly used to address human resource shortages impacting HIV service delivery in low- and middle-income countries. By shifting basic tasks from higher- to lower-trained cadres, such as ...

    Authors: Hayley Mundeva, Jeremy Snyder, David Paul Ngilangwa and Angela Kaida

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:71

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  47. The reliability of clinical practice guidelines has been disputed because guideline panel members are often burdened with financial conflicts of interest (COI). Current recommendations for COI regulation advis...

    Authors: Hendrik Napierala, Luise Schäfer, Gisela Schott, Niklas Schurig and Thomas Lempert

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:65

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  48. Health checks or health screenings identify (risk factors for) disease in people without a specific medical indication. So far, the perspective of (potential) health check users has remained underexposed in di...

    Authors: Yrrah H. Stol, Eva C. A. Asscher and Maartje H. N. Schermer

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:64

    Content type: Research article

    Published on:

  50. Health care organization is entering a new age. Focus is increasingly shifting from individual health care institutions to interorganizational collaboration and health care networks. Much hope is set on such n...

    Authors: Kasper Raus, Eric Mortier and Kristof Eeckloo

    Citation: BMC Medical Ethics 2018 19:52

    Content type: Debate

    Published on:

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BMC Medical Ethics

ISSN: 1472-6939

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