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13DNR and ECMO: A Paradox Worth ExploringJournal of Clinical Ethics 25 (1): 13-19. 2014.Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides continuous circulation and/or oxygenation to adults with cardiac failure, pulmonary dysfunction, or both. The technology is similar to the traditional heart-lung bypass machines used during surgical procedures, however ECMO may be used outside the confines of the operating room and for extended periods of time. This paper explores the complexities, both clinical and ethical, of a donot-resuscitate (DNR) order for patients with cardiopulmonary f…Read more
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43Lights, camera, inaction? Neuroimaging and disorders of consciousnessAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (9). 2008.Without exaggeration, it could be said that we are entering a golden age of neuroscience. Informed by recent developments in neuroimaging that allow us to peer into the working brain at both a structural and functional level, neuroscientists are beginning to untangle mechanisms of recovery after brain injury and grapple with age-old questions about brain and mind and their correlates neural mechanisms and consciousness. Neuroimaging, coupled with new diagnostic categories and assessment scales a…Read more
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22Approximation and Negotiation: Clinical Pragmatism and DifferenceCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 7 (1): 68-76. 1998.When addressing cultural and religious differences in the clinical setting we need to be realists. Despite our public homage to pluralism and good intentions, it is just not possible to overcome all the differences that might exist and achieve perfect understanding of others. Try as we may, we will never be able to see perfectly the world through another's eyes. Instead of reaching for such perfection, we should instead reach for an approximation of shared understanding that will promote discour…Read more
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34Ideology and Microbiology: Ebola, Science, and Deliberative DemocracyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 15 (4): 1-3. 2015.
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24What's Not Being Shared in Shared Decision‐Making?Hastings Center Report 43 (4): 13-16. 2013.What's not to like about shared decision‐making? These programs employ specially crafted decision aids to educate patients about their treatment options and then merge the newly informed patient preferences, both general and treatment‐specific, with guidance from physicians to optimize medical decisions. Sounds great, right? Even better, recent evidence indicates that shared decision‐making programs may also help bend the proverbial cost curve by reducing the use of medical interventions that pa…Read more
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36Clinical pragmatism: Bridging theory and practiceKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 8 (1): 37-42. 1998.: This response to Lynn Jansen's critique of clinical pragmatism concentrates on two themes: (1) contrasting approaches to moral epistemology and (2) the connection between theory and practice in clinical ethics. Particular attention is paid to the status of principles and the role of consensus, with some closing speculations on how Dewey might view the current state of bioethics
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30Brain Injury and the culture of Neglect: musings on an uncertain FutureSocial Research: An International Quarterly 78 (3): 731-746. 2011.Our essay will address both the right-to-die movement in America and the emerging culture of neglect in the treatment of a class of patients with disorders of consciousness with which the right-to-die movement is entwined. We trace the etiology of these two themes through changes in our scientific understanding of brain injury and recovery against a growing societal acculturation to dominion over one's self at life's end
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79Rethinking disorders of consciousness: New research and its implicationsHastings Center Report 35 (2): 22-24. 2005.
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49Iberian Influences on Pan-American Bioethics: Bringing Don Quixote to Our ShoresCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 15 (3): 225-238. 2006.
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7The Economics of Clinical Ethics Programs: A Quantitative JustificationCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 6 (4): 451-460. 1997.The restructuring of the healthcare marketplace has exerted pressure directly and indirectly on clinical ethics programs. The fiscal orientation and emphasis on efficiency, outcome measures, and cost control have made it increasingly difficult to communicate arguments in support of the existence or growth of ethics programs. In the current marketplace, arguments that rely on the claim that ethics programs protect patient rights or assist in the professional formation of practitioners often resul…Read more
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50Lessons from the Injured Brain: A Bioethicist in the Vineyards of NeuroscienceCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 18 (1): 7. 2009.I would like to share some reflections on how bioethics fosters dialogue between the sciences and humanities by talking a bit about my work as a physician-ethicist collaborating with neuroscientists studying severe brain injury and mechanisms of recovery. If I am successful in this Pilgrim's Progress, I hope I will convince you that the injured brain can teach us much about ourselves. It is not something I was prepared to believe as a medical student, when I was more certain of things than I am …Read more
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6In Remembrance, with Thanks to VoltaireCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 25 (1): 108-110. 2016.
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6Distinguishing Professionalism and Heroism When Disaster StrikesCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24 (4): 373-384. 2015.
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4The Authors ReplyHastings Center Report 43 (6): 6-6. 2013.A response to a commentary by Howard Brody and Luana Colloca about “What's Not Being Shared in Shared Decision‐Making?” from the July‐August 2013.
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27Conflicts of Interest in Deep Brain Stimulation Research and the Ethics of TransparencyJournal of Clinical Ethics 21 (2): 125-132. 2010.In this article we will draw on experiences from our own research on deep brain stimulation of the central thalamus in the minimally conscious state. We describe ethical challenges faced in clinical research involving medical devices and offer several cautionary notes about its funding and the interplay of market forces and scientific inquiry and suggest some reforms.
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95Death, dying and informatics: misrepresenting religion on MedLine (review)BMC Medical Ethics 6 (1): 1-5. 2005.Background The globalization of medical science carries for doctors worldwide a correlative duty to deepen their understanding of patients' cultural contexts and religious backgrounds, in order to satisfy each as a unique individual. To become better informed, practitioners may turn to MedLine, but it is unclear whether the information found there is an accurate representation of culture and religion. To test MedLine's representation of this field, we chose the topic of death and dying in the th…Read more
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56A leg to stand on: Sir William Osler and Wilder penfield's "neuroethics"American Journal of Bioethics 8 (1). 2008.If ever I summon before me my highest ideals of men and medicine, I find them sprung from the spirit of Osler. —Wilder Penfield, M.D. Neuroethics is a recently coined term that is shaping our cultu...
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5Praxis Makes Perfect?Hastings Center Report 23 (5): 16-19. 1993.Hospital formulary committees blend cost‐effectiveness analysis, peer review, and continuing medical education to regulate hospital drug purchases and physicians' prescribing patterns in ways that may be instructive to the societal debate on health care reform.
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30Reinvigorating ethics consultations: An impetus from the “quality” debate (review)HEC Forum 18 (4): 298-304. 2006.
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45Baseball and BioethicsCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 14 (4): 434-443. 2005.David and I were at a conference on Amelia Island in Florida back in 1995. The meeting, sponsored by the University of Florida, was entitled, “Physician-Assisted Death: Implications for Patients, Care Providers, and Society,” a title that seems quaint given the controversy over the right to die engendered by the Schiavo case. But that's a different talk for a different time
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24In Defense of Bioethics and the HumanitiesCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 20 (4): 615-616. 2011.
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24The Orwellian Threat to Emerging Neurodiagnostic TechnologiesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 5 (2): 56-58. 2005.
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21Guardianship and Clinical Research Participation: The Case of Wards with Disorders of ConsciousnessKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 27 (1): 43-70. 2017.Incapacitated adults with a legally appointed guardian or conservator may be recruited for or involved with medical, behavioral, or social science research. Much of the research in which such persons participate is aimed at evaluating medical interventions for them, or contributing to general knowledge about disorders from which they may suffer. In this paper we will consider how the appointment of guardians for patients with disorders of consciousness —severe brain injuries that affect a patien…Read more
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Cornell UniversityRegular Faculty
Ithaca, New York, United States of America