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51Rethinking Reprogenetics: Enhancing Ethical Analyses of Reprogenetic TechnologiesOxford University Press. 2016.Reprogenetic technologies, which combine the power of reproductive techniques with the tools of genetic science and technology, promise prospective parents a remarkable degree of control to pick and choose the likely characteristics of their offspring. Not only can they select embryos with or without particular genetically-related diseases and disabilities but also choose embryos with non-disease related traits such as sex. Prominent authors such as Agar, Buchanan, DeGrazia, Green, Harris, Robe…Read more
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50An undignified bioethics: There is no method in this madnessBioethics 26 (4): 224-230. 2012.In a recent article, Alasdair Cochrane argues for the need to have an undignified bioethics. His is not, of course, a call to transform bioethics into an inelegant, pathetic discipline, or one failing to meet appropriate disciplinary standards. His is a call to simply eliminate the concept of human dignity from bioethical discourse. Here I argue that he fails to make his case. I first show that several of the flaws that Cochrane identifies are not flaws of the conceptions of dignity he discusses…Read more
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49Review of Françoise Baylis and Carolyn McLeod, eds.: Family-making: contemporary ethical challenges: Oxford University Press, New York, 2014 (review)Monash Bioethics Review 34 (3-4): 239-242. 2017.
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48The challenge for medical ethicists: Weighing pros and cons of advanced reproductive technologies to screen human embryos during IVFIn E. Scott Sills & Gianpiero D. Palermo (eds.), Human Embryos and Preimplantation Genetic Technologies, Elsevier. pp. 1-10. 2019.Embryo screening technologies offer important benefits to individuals who use them and society. These techniques can expand the reproductive options of many prospective parents and can contribute to reducing the burdens of disease and disability. Nonetheless, embryo screening techniques present individuals and societies with important ethical challenges. Here, I explore some of them. In particular, I discuss the costs for prospective parents of increased reproductive choices, as well as concerns…Read more
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46Book Symposium on Human Nature in an Age of Biotechnology: the Case for Mediated Posthumanism By Tamar Sharon Springer, Dordrecht, 2014Philosophy and Technology 28 (4): 581-599. 2015.
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46Furthering injustices against women: Genetic information, moral obligations, and genderBioethics 20 (6). 2006.The purpose of this paper is to show that a decontextualized approach to ethical issues is not just unhelpful for the decision making process of real, situated human beings, but dangerous. This is so, because by neglecting the context in which people make moral decisions we run the risk of reinforcing or furthering injustices against already disadvantaged groups. To show this, I evaluate three moral obligations that our ability to obtain genetic information has made salient: the duty to obtain g…Read more
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45On masks and masking: epistemic harms and science communicationSynthese 202 (3): 1-17. 2023.During emerging public health crises, both policymakers and members of the public are looking to scientific experts to provide guidance. Even in cases where there are significant uncertainties, there is pressure for experts to “speak with one voice” to avoid confusion, allow officials to make evidence-based decisions rapidly, and encourage public support for such decisions. This can lead experts to engage in masking of information about the state of the science or regarding assumptions involved …Read more
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42The commercialization of the biomedical sciences: (mis)understanding biasHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 41 (3): 34. 2019.The growing commercialization of scientific research has raised important concerns about industry bias. According to some evidence, so-called industry bias can affect the integrity of the science as well as the direction of the research agenda. I argue that conceptualizing industry’s influence in scientific research in terms of bias is unhelpful. Insofar as industry sponsorship negatively affects the integrity of the research, it does so through biasing mechanisms that can affect any research in…Read more
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41A Parental Duty to Use PGD: More Than We Bargained For?American Journal of Bioethics 12 (4): 14-15. 2012.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 4, Page 14-15, April 2012
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40
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38A Duty to Participate in Research: Does Social Context Matter?American Journal of Bioethics 8 (10): 28-36. 2008.Because of the important benefits that biomedical research offers to humans, some have argued that people have a general moral obligation to participate in research. Although the defense of such a putative moral duty has raised controversy, few scholars, on either side of the debate, have attended to the social context in which research takes place and where such an obligation will be discharged. By reflecting on the social context in which a presumed duty to participate in research will obtain,…Read more
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37Germline Gene Editing: Minding the Past and the FutureAmerican Journal of Bioethics 20 (8): 36-38. 2020.Volume 20, Issue 8, August 2020, Page 36-38.
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36“I want us to be a normal family”: Toward an understanding of the functions of anonymity among U.S. oocyte donors and recipientsAJOB Empirical Bioethics 9 (4): 235-251. 2018.Abstract BACKGROUND: Anonymity remains the more common practice in gamete donations, but legislation prohibiting anonymity with a goal of protecting donor-conceived children's right to know their genetic origins is becoming more common. However, given the dearth of research investigating the function of anonymity for donors and recipients, it is unclear whether these policies will accomplish their goals. The aim of this study was to explore experiences with anonymity among oocyte donors and reci…Read more
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34We don’t need unilateral DNRs: taking informed non-dissent one step furtherJournal of Medical Ethics 45 (5): 314-317. 2019.Although shared decision-making is a standard in medical care, unilateral decisions through process-based conflict resolution policies have been defended in certain cases. In patients who do not stand to receive proportional clinical benefits, the harms involved in interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation seem to run contrary to the principle of non-maleficence, and provision of such interventions may cause clinicians significant moral distress. However, because the application of the…Read more
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33More Clarifications: On the Goals of Conflict of Interest PoliciesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 11 (1): 35-37. 2011.This Article does not have an abstract
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32Begetting as Producing: Who Cares?American Journal of Bioethics 19 (7): 18-20. 2019.Volume 19, Issue 7, July 2019, Page 18-20.
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30Biological explanations and social responsibilityStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 34 (2): 345-358. 2003.The aim of this paper is to show that critics of biological explanations of human nature may be granting too much to those who propose such explanations when they argue that the truth of genetic determinism implies an end to critical evaluation and reform of our social institutions. This is the case because when we argue that biological determinism exempts us from social critique we are erroneously presupposing that our social values, practices, and institutions have nothing to do with what make…Read more
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27Lack of Access to Genetic-Relative Family Health History: A Health Disparity for Adoptees?American Journal of Bioethics 16 (12): 43-45. 2016.
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26Current Controversies in Values and Science ed. by Kevin C. Elliott, Daniel SteelKennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 29 (1): 5-10. 2019.As a general claim, most philosophers of science accept that science is not value-free. The disagreements lie in the proverbial details. The essays in Current Controversies in Values and Science, edited by Kevin Elliott and Daniel Steel focus on such details. Like other volumes in the Routledge Current Controversies in Philosophy’s series, this one asks ten well-known philosophers of science to engage with various questions. Each question receives roughly positive and negative responses, though …Read more
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25Ethics Consultation in Surgical SpecialtiesHEC Forum 34 (1): 89-102. 2021.Multiple studies have been performed to identify the most common ethical dilemmas encountered by ethics consultation services. However, limited data exists comparing the content of ethics consultations requested by specific hospital specialties. It remains unclear whether the scope of ethical dilemmas prompting an ethics consultation differ between specialties and if there are types of ethics consultations that are more or less frequently called based on the specialty initiating the ethics consu…Read more
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24“I Want to Do It, But I Want to Make Sure That I Do It Right.” Views of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Regarding Early Stem Cell Clinical Trial ParticipationAJOB Empirical Bioethics 11 (3): 160-171. 2020.
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24Strangers no more: Genuine interdisciplinarityAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (3). 2008.This Article does not have an abstract
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23Being and Becoming Pregnant: Valuing RisksPerspectives in Biology and Medicine 65 (2): 327-336. 2022.Pregnant women are insistently urged to limit or eliminate risks to their fetuses. This is done even when the risks to fetuses are only theoretical or minimal, and the health and well-being of the pregnant woman is at stake. When using reproductive and reprogenetic technologies, however, evaluations about what risks are acceptable to impose on embryos change radically. In the context of these technologies, women are not only allowed to impose risks on embryos, but actively encouraged to do so-in…Read more
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23The ethics of anonymous gamete donation: is there a right to know one's genetic origins?Hastings Center Report 44 (2): 28-35. 2014.A growing number of jurisdictions hold that gamete donors must be identifiable to the children born with their eggs or sperm, on grounds that being able to know about one's genetic origins is a fundamental moral right. But the argument for that belief has not yet been adequately made.
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22Ethics, Embryos, and Eggs: The Need for More than Epistemic ValuesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (12): 38-40. 2008.No abstract
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22Human Genome Editing and Identity: The Precariousness of Existence and the Abundance of Argumentative OptionsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 22 (9): 18-20. 2022.In “Human germline genome editing: On the nature of our reasons to genome edit,” Robert Sparrow (2022) presents a central claim and a secondary one. The central claim is that, for the foreseeable f...
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20Not All Means Are Created Equal and Some Other ProblemsAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 1 (1): 17-18. 2010.
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19How best to protect the vital interests of donor-conceived individuals: prohibiting or mandating anonymity in gamete donations?Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online 100-108. 2017.Anonymous gamete donation continues to be practised in most jurisdictions around the world, but this practice has come under increased scrutiny. Thus, several countries now mandate that donors be identifiable to their genetic offspring. Critics contend that anonymous gamete donation harms the interests of donor-conceived individuals and that protection of these interests calls for legal prohibition of anonymous donations. Among the vital interests that critics claim are thwarted by anonymous don…Read more
Inmaculada de Melo-Martin
Weill Cornell Medicine--Cornell University
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Weill Cornell Medicine--Cornell UniversityProfessor
New York, NY, United States of America
Areas of Interest
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