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10Exploitation without FairnessRes Publica 1-21. forthcoming.Contemporary accounts of the concept of exploitation can be grouped into camps that tie the wrongness of taking advantage of another person to: (1) the unfair division of benefits resulting from an interaction; (2) excessive benefits resulting from structural injustice; and (3) a failure of respect for others’ humanity. In practice, accounts of exploitation that focus on the fairness of benefits resulting from individual transactions and, to a lesser degree, unjust social and economic institutio…Read more
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19Health Misinformation and the Power of Narrative Messaging in the Public SphereCanadian Journal of Bioethics / Revue canadienne de bioéthique 2 (2): 52-60. 2019.Numerous social, economic and academic pressures can have a negative impact on representations of biomedical research. We review several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative. In turn, we explore how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and present creative responses that may help counter the negative trends…Read more
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3Revisiting the Ethics of Circumvention TourismJournal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 50 (3): 563-565. 2022.In the context of medical tourism, circumvention tourism consists of traveling abroad with the intention of participating in a health-related activity that is prohibited in one’s own country but not in the destination country. This practice raises a host of legal and ethical questions that focus on how the traveler should be treated once they have returned home. Joshua Shaw1 deftly shows that the question of whether circumvention tourists should be punished in their home countries is not somethi…Read more
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4Exploiting hope: how the promise of new medical interventions sustains us -- and makes us vulnerableOxford University Press. 2020.We often hear stories of people in terrible and seemingly intractable situations that are preyed upon by individuals offering empty promises of help. Frequently these cases are condemned as "exploiting the hope" of another. These accusations are made in a range of contexts, including human smuggling, the beauty industry, and unproven medical interventions. This concept is meant to do heavy lifting in public discourse, identifying a specific form of unethical conduct. However, it is poorly unders…Read more
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6Is there room for privacy in medical crowdfunding?Journal of Medical Ethics 47 (12). 2021.When people use online platforms to solicit funds from others for health-related needs, they are engaging in medical crowdfunding. This form of crowdfunding is growing in popularity, and its visibility is increasing as campaigns are commonly shared via social networking. A number of ethical issues have been raised about medical crowdfunding, one of which is that it introduces a number of privacy concerns. While campaigners are encouraged to share very personal details to encourage donations, the…Read more
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21Medical Crowdfunding for Unproven Medical Treatments: Should Gofundme Become a Gatekeeper?Hastings Center Report 49 (6): 32-38. 2019.Medical crowdfunding has raised many ethical concerns, among them that it may undermine privacy, widen health inequities, and commodify health care. One motivation for medical crowdfunding has received particular attention among ethicists. Recent studies have shown that many individuals are using crowdfunding to finance access to scientifically unsupported medical treatments. Recently, GoFundMe prohibited campaigns for antivaccination groups on the grounds that they “promote misinformation about…Read more
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16Task 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 Community Health Workers, task shifting can reduce overhead costs, improve community outreach, and provide efficient scale-up of essential treatments like antiretroviral therapies. Although there is rich evidence outlining positive outcomes that CHWs bring into HIV programs, important quest…Read more
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5Restricting health worker migration in the name of solidaritySouth African Journal of Philosophy 36 (1): 4-12. 2017.
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13Developing an informational tool for ethical engagement in medical tourismPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2017 12:1 12 (1): 4. 2017.Medical tourism, the practice of persons intentionally travelling across international boundaries to access medical care, has drawn increasing attention from researchers, particularly in relation to potential ethical concerns of this practice. Researchers have expressed concern for potential negative impacts to individual safety, public health within both countries of origin for medical tourists and destination countries, and global health equity. However, these ethical concerns are not discusse…Read more
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34Developing an informational tool for ethical engagement in medical tourismPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 12 4. 2017.BackgroundMedical tourism, the practice of persons intentionally travelling across international boundaries to access medical care, has drawn increasing attention from researchers, particularly in relation to potential ethical concerns of this practice. Researchers have expressed concern for potential negative impacts to individual safety, public health within both countries of origin for medical tourists and destination countries, and global health equity. However, these ethical concerns are no…Read more
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10Guidelines for Reducing the Negative Public Health Impacts of Medical TourismBioéthiqueOnline 1 12. 2012.International travel for medical care, or medical tourism, creates ethical and safety concerns for patients. Guidelines could be developed and distributed to help address these concerns, but they may at the same time appear to endorse this practice.
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22Appealing to the crowd: ethical justifications in Canadian medical crowdfunding campaignsJournal of Medical Ethics 43 (6): 364-367. 2017.
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122Kidney for Sale by Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market – By Mark J. Cherry (review)Developing World Bioethics 7 (3): 168-170. 2007.
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300Efficiency, Equity, and Price Gouging: A Response to ZwolinskiBusiness Ethics Quarterly 19 (2): 303-306. 2009.ABSTRACT:In this response, I reiterate my argument that price gouging undercuts the goal of equity in access to essential goods whereas Zwolinski emphasizes the importance of the efficient provision of essential goods above all other goals. I agree that the efficient provision of essential goods is important as I argue for the goal of equitable access to sufficient of the goods essential to living a minimally flourishing human life. However, efficiency is a means to this goal rather than the end…Read more
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50Predatory PricingIn Hugh LaFollette (ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Ethics, Blackwell. 2013.
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42Is Health Worker Migration a Case of Poaching?American Journal of Bioethics 9 (3): 3-7. 2009.Many nations in the developing world invest scarce funding into training health workers. When these workers migrate to richer countries, particularly when this migration occurs before the source community can recoup the costs of training, the destination community realizes a net gain in resources by obtaining the workers' skills without having to pay for their training. This effect of health worker migration has frequently been condemned as 'poaching' or a case of theft. I assess the charge that…Read more
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49Exploitation and demeaning choicesPolitics, Philosophy and Economics 12 (4): 345-360. 2013.Scholarship aiming to describe the wrongness of exploitation, especially when it is voluntary and mutually beneficial, has increased greatly in recent years. In this paper, I expand the scope of this discussion by highlighting a set of additional ethical concerns associated with many cases of mutually voluntary and beneficial exploitation. Specifically, I argue that the phenomenon of persons desperately seeking out and gratefully accepting exploitative interactions raises special moral concerns.…Read more
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110Risk communication and informed consent in the medical tourism industry: A thematic content analysis of canadian broker websites (review)BMC Medical Ethics 12 (1): 17-. 2011.Background: Medical tourism, thought of as patients seeking non-emergency medical care outside of their home countries, is a growing industry worldwide. Canadians are amongst those engaging in medical tourism, and many are helped in the process of accessing care abroad by medical tourism brokers - agents who specialize in making international medical care arrangements for patients. As a key source of information for these patients, brokers are likely to play an important role in communicating th…Read more
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57Promoting social responsibility amongst health care users: medical tourists' perspectives on an information sheet regarding ethical concerns in medical tourismPhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 8 19. 2013.Medical tourists, persons that travel across international borders with the intention to access non-emergency medical care, may not be adequately informed of safety and ethical concerns related to the practice of medical tourism. Researchers indicate that the sources of information frequently used by medical tourists during their decision-making process may be biased and/or lack comprehensive information regarding individual safety and treatment outcomes, as well as potential impacts of the medi…Read more
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192Perceptions of the Ethics of Medical Tourism: Comparing Patient and Academic PerspectivesPublic Health Ethics 5 (1): 38-46. 2012.Medical tourism is a practice, whereby individuals travel across national borders with the intention of receiving medical care. Medical tourists are motivated to travel abroad by a number of factors, including the affordability of care abroad, access to treatments not available at home, and wait times for care at home. In this article, we share the findings of interviews conducted with 32 Canadian medical tourists with the aim of developing a better understanding of medical tourism, the ethical …Read more
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32Hawkins, Jennifer S., and Emanuel, Ezekiel J., eds. Exploitation and Developing Countries: The Ethics of Clinical Research (review)Ethics 119 (3). 2009.
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35Crowdfunding for medical care: Ethical issues in an emerging health care funding practiceHastings Center Report 46 (6): 36-42. 2016.Crowdfunding websites allow users to post a public appeal for funding for a range of activities, including adoption, travel, research, participation in sports, and many others. One common form of crowdfunding is for expenses related to medical care. Medical crowdfunding appeals serve as a means of addressing gaps in medical and employment insurance, both in countries without universal health insurance, like the United States, and countries with universal coverage limited to essential medical nee…Read more
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29Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Relative Versus Absolute Standards for Everyday Risk in Adolescent HIV Prevention Trials: Expanding the Debate”American Journal of Bioethics 11 (6). 2011.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 6, Page W1-W3, June 2011
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42Multiple Forms of Exploitation in International Research: The Need for Multiple Standards of FairnessAmerican Journal of Bioethics 10 (6): 40-41. 2010.Ballantyne correctly notes the need for clarification as to the standard of fairness that should guide nonexploitative international research on human subjects. When accounts of exploitation are applied to pharmaceutical development (as well as other areas), there is too often an uncritical acceptance that exploitation involves a form of unfairness. Moreover, these authors typically fail to produce an account of fairness by which exploitation should be identified. Ballantyne should be applauded …Read more
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669Exploitation and Sweatshop Labor: Perspectives and IssuesBusiness Ethics Quarterly 20 (2): 187-213. 2010.In this review, I survey theoretical accounts of exploitation in business, chiefly through the example of low wage or sweatshop labor. This labor is associated with wages that fall below a living wage standard and include long working hours. Labor of this kind is often described as self-evidently exploitative and immoral (Van Natta 1995). But for those who defend sweatshop labor as the first rung on a ladder toward greater economic development, the charge that sweatshop labor is self-evidently e…Read more
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28Attitudes toward Post‐Trial Access to Medical Interventions: A Review of Academic Literature, Legislation, and International Guidelines (review)Developing World Bioethics 16 (2): 70-79. 2015.There is currently no international consensus around post-trial obligations toward research participants, community members, and host countries. This literature review investigates arguments and attitudes toward post-trial access. The literature review found that academic discussions focused on the rights of research participants, but offered few practical recommendations for addressing or improving current practices. Similarly, there are few regulations or legislation pertaining to post-trial a…Read more
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25Response to open Peer commentaries on “Is Health Worker Migration a Case of Poaching?”American Journal of Bioethics 9 (3). 2009.I would like to thank all of the respondents to my article both for their expansions on the theme of health worker migration and for their criticisms of my argument against the use of the term ’poaching’ in the context of international health worker migration. In this response, I will clarify my argument in light of the worries raised primarily by Tache and Schillinger and Ari Zivotofsky and Naomi Zivotofsky.
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Applied Ethics, Miscellaneous |
Biomedical Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
Business Ethics |