Jennifer Flynn

The relationship between intimacy and honesty seems a paradoxical one. While intimate relationships would seem to demand a high level of honesty, this same intimacy might make us more likely to shield the other or protect ourselves through benevolent lying or the withholding of information. It would seem that honesty may not always be the best policy in intimate relationships. The purpose of this article is to examine the tension between honesty and intimacy in Kant’s duty of friendship, and it will highlight the limitations of Kant’s expectations of friendship. At the same time I will use Kant’s own appeal to the autonomy of moral agents to delineate an appropriate role for the obligations of honesty and self disclosure in friendship.

Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) enables improved function and quality of life for those who have lost anatomical parts such as a limb and the relief of profound suffering for those with severe facial disfiguration. VCA differs from vital organ transplantation in two important ways: (1) these transplants are not necessary for recipient survival, impacting risk-benefit ratios; and (2) face and limb transplants are visible and touchable, leading to issues of identity changes, social interaction and psychological adjustments. This chapter will consider the ethical implications of VCA in pediatrics. This chapter will be divided into the following six sections: (1) introduction; (2) the state of the science and experience with VCA; (3) risk-benefit assessment; (4) informed consent (i) donors and donor surrogate decision makers (ii) recipients and recipient surrogate decision makers; (5) establishing a pediatric program (i) recipient selection (ii) allocation; (iii) accountability for surgical innovation and (6) conclusion.

Lors de l’atelier organisé dans le cadre de l’atelier et du forum communautaire 2023 de la SCB-SCB, nous avons exploré et problématisé le concept d’ « amélioration » des éthiciens cliniques, dans le contexte plus large des discussions sur la professionnalisation de l’éthique clinique. Ce résumé présente les principaux points de vue d’éthiciens cliniques à travers le Canada sur ce sujet et comprend des suggestions sur les mesures que nous pourrions prendre sur le terrain pour permettre et soutenir l’amélioration des éthiciens cliniques à l’avenir.

What kind of criticism does the term ‘moralism’ make? In this paper, I examine whether clinical ethics consultation is even moralistic, and the relevance to this question of the moral expertise of the clinical ethicist. More specifically, I pose two questions: why might clinical ethics consultation sometimes be perceived as moralistic, and does clinical ethics consultation ever require a certain kind of moralism? I begin by looking at the term moralism, providing an exposition of some relevant philosophical work. Moving to clinical ethics, I examine two concerns about clinical ethics, concerns at least partly underwritten by worries about moralism. I then address the issue of the perception of moralism in clinical ethics consultation, and suggest that the clinical ethics consultant’s moral expertise can (and ought to) reduce that perception. Finally, I examine the requirement of clinical ethics consultation of a certain kind of moralism, this in fact as a result of the clinical ethics consultant’s moral expertise.