-
105Responsibility for health: personal, social, and environmentalJournal of Medical Ethics 33 (8): 444-445. 2007.Most of the discussion in bioethics and health policy concerning social responsibility for health has focused on society’s obligation to provide access to healthcare. While ensuring access to healthcare is an important social responsibility, societies can promote health in many other ways, such as through sanitation, pollution control, food and drug safety, health education, disease surveillance, urban planning and occupational health. Greater attention should be paid to strategies for health pr…Read more
-
139The commodification of human reproductive materialsJournal of Medical Ethics 24 (6): 388-393. 1998.This essay develops a framework for thinking about the moral basis for the commodification of human reproductive materials. It argues that selling and buying gametes and genes is morally acceptable although there should not be a market for zygotes, embryos, or genomes. Also a market in gametes and genes should be regulated in order to address concerns about the adverse social consequences of commodification
-
38Re-consenting human subjects: ethical, legal and practical issuesJournal of Medical Ethics 35 (11): 656-657. 2009.Informed consent is one of the foundational ethical and legal requirements of research with human subjects. The Nuremberg Code, the Helsinki Declaration, the Belmont Report, the Common Rule and many other laws and codes require that research subjects make a voluntary, informed choice to participate in research.12345 Informed consent is based on the moral principle of respect for autonomy, which holds that rational individuals have a right to make decisions and take actions that reflect their val…Read more
-
41Eliminating the daily life risks standard from the definition of minimal riskJournal of Medical Ethics 31 (1): 35-38. 2005.The phrase “minimal risk,” as defined in the United States’ federal research regulations, is ambiguous and poorly defined. This article argues that most of the ambiguity that one finds in the phrase stems from the “daily life risks” standard in the definition of minimal risk. In this article, the author argues that the daily life risks standard should be dropped and that “minimal risk” should be defined as simply “the probability and magnitude of the harm or discomfort anticipated in research ar…Read more
-
21Review of Gene Transfer and the Ethics of First-in-Human Research (review)Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 5 (1). 2011.
-
27Direct-to-Consumer Genomics, Social Networking, and ConfidentialityAmerican Journal of Bioethics 9 (6-7): 45-46. 2009.No abstract
-
57The rebirth of rational morphologyActa Biotheoretica 42 (1): 1-14. 1994.This paper examines a new challenge to neo-Darwinism, a movement known as process structuralism. The process structuralist critique of neo-Darwinism holds 1) that there are general laws in biology and that biologists should search for these laws; 2) that there are general forms of morphology and development and that biologists should attempt to uncover these forms; 3) that organisms are unified wholes that cannot be understood without adopting a holistic perspective; and 4) that no special, caus…Read more
-
85Limits on risks for healthy volunteers in biomedical researchTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 33 (2): 137-149. 2012.Healthy volunteers in biomedical research often face significant risks in studies that offer them no medical benefits. The U.S. federal research regulations and laws adopted by other countries place no limits on the risks that these participants face. In this essay, I argue that there should be some limits on the risks for biomedical research involving healthy volunteers. Limits on risk are necessary to protect human participants, institutions, and the scientific community from harm. With the ex…Read more
-
59Protection of human subjects and scientific progress: Can the two be reconciled?Hastings Center Report 36 (1): 4-9. 2006.
-
35Research ethics consultation at the national institute of environmental health sciencesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 8 (3). 2008.This Article does not have an abstract
-
3Conflicts of Interest at the NIH: No Easy Solution (review)Hastings Center Report 35 (1): 18-20. 2012.Editor's Note: On February 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health changed course on conflicts of interest and prohibited its scientists from owning stock in or working as consultants with pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies. The following essay, sent to press before the new policy was announced, recommends a very different approach. The author stands by the recommendations.
-
47Human Health and the Environment: In Harmony or in Conflict? (review)Health Care Analysis 17 (3): 261-276. 2009.Health policy frameworks usually construe environmental protection and human health as harmonious values. Policies that protect the environment, such as pollution control and pesticide regulation, also benefit human health. In recent years, however, it has become apparent that promoting human health sometimes undermines environmental protection. Some actions, policies, or technologies that reduce human morbidity, mortality, and disease can have detrimental effects on the environment. Since human…Read more
-
55Fair Drug Prices and the Patent SystemHealth Care Analysis 12 (2): 91-115. 2004.This paper uses John Rawls' theory of justice to defend the patent system against charges that it has an unfair effect on access to medications, from the perspective of national and international justice. The paper argues that the patent system is fair in a national context because it respects intellectual property rights and it benefits the least advantaged members of society by providing incentives for inventors, investors, and entrepreneurs. The paper also argues that the patent system is fai…Read more
-
30Bioethical issues in providing financial incentives to research participantsMedicolegal and Bioethics 35. forthcoming.
-
58The conflict between ethics and business in community pharmacy: What about patient counseling? (review)Journal of Business Ethics 28 (2). 2000.Patient counseling is a cornerstone of ethical pharmacy practice and high quality pharmaceutical care. Counseling promotes patient compliance with prescription regimens and prevents dangerous drug interactions and medication errors. Counseling also promotes informed consent and protects pharmacists against legal risks. However, economic, social, and technological changes in pharmacy practice often force community pharmacists to choose between their professional obligations to counsel patients an…Read more
-
104Genetic modification and genetic determinismPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 1 9. 2006.In this article we examine four objections to the genetic modification of human beings: the freedom argument, the giftedness argument, the authenticity argument, and the uniqueness argument. We then demonstrate that each of these arguments against genetic modification assumes a strong version of genetic determinism. Since these strong deterministic assumptions are false, the arguments against genetic modification, which assume and depend upon these assumptions, are therefore unsound. Serious dis…Read more
-
18Practical problems with family covenants in genetic testingAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1 (3). 2001.This Article does not have an abstract
-
50Authorship policies of scientific journals: Table 1Journal of Medical Ethics 42 (3): 199-202. 2016.
-
64Scientific autonomy and public oversightEpisteme 5 (2). 2008.When scientific research collides with social values, science's right to self-governance becomes an issue of paramount concern. In this article, I develop an account of scientific autonomy within a framework of public oversight. I argue that scientific autonomy is justified because it promotes the progress of science, which benefits society, but that restrictions on autonomy can also be justified to prevent harm to people, society, or the environment, and to encourage beneficial research. I also…Read more
-
59Ethical Issues in Field Trials of Genetically Modified Disease-Resistant MosquitoesDeveloping World Bioethics 12 (3): 37-46. 2012.Mosquito-borne diseases take a tremendous toll on human populations, especially in developing nations. In the last decade, scientists have developed mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to prevent transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, and field trials have been conducted. Some mosquitoes have been rendered infertile, some have been equipped with a vaccine they transmit to humans, and some have been designed to resist diseases. This article focuses on ethical issues raised by field t…Read more
-
16Practical and Political Problems With a Global Research TaxAmerican Journal of Bioethics 10 (6): 44-45. 2010.
-
38Review of Rethinking the Ethics of Clinical Research (review)Studies in Ethics, Law, and Technology 7 (1). 2013.This is a review of Alan Wertheimer's Rethinking the Ethics of Clinical Research.
-
12What Are Reasonably Foreseeable Risks?American Journal of Bioethics 13 (12): 29-30. 2013.No abstract
-
11Making Sense of the Undue Burden Interpretation of Minimal RiskAmerican Journal of Bioethics 14 (9): 1-2. 2014.No abstract
-
19International Biomedical Research and Research Ethics Training in Developing CountriesJournal of Clinical Research and Bioethics 1 (1). 2010.
-
19Reopening Old DivisionsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 11 (6). 2011.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 6, Page 19-21, June 2011
-
19
-
57The patient's duty to adhere to prescribed treatment: An ethical analysisJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 30 (2). 2005.This article examines the ethical basis for the patient's duty to adhere to the physician's treatment prescriptions. The article argues that patients have a moral duty to adhere to the physician's treatment prescriptions, once they have accepted treatment. Since patients still retain the right to refuse medical treatment, their duty to adhere to treatment prescriptions is a prima facie duty, which can be overridden by their other ethical duties. However, patients do not have the right to refuse …Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |