Ethics Articles

Public Health Policy

Mobile Technology and Social Media - Ethical Implications

In emerging markets in particular, mobile devices and social media have become ?life tools??used for telemedicine, banking, education, communication, and more. These developments give rise to new ethical challenges.
Radha Basu

Ethical Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza: A Toolkit

Practical ethical issues for public health agencies in dealing with a severe pandemic
Margaret R. McLean

Ethical Issues in Dealing With Influenza

Resources for considering the ethical ramifications of seasonal and pandemic flu

Ethical Issues in Dealing With Seasonal Influenza

Ethical Issues in Dealing With Seasonal Influenza
Sarah Ludwig

Influenza Vaccine Shortage: The Ethics of Rationing

Influenza Vaccine Shortage: The Ethics of Rationing
Sarah Ludwig

Seasonal Influenza: The Ethics of Staying Home

Seasonal Influenza: The Ethics of Staying Home
Sarah Ludwig

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: Ethical Challenges for Cities

Ethical questions for municipal officials on allowing, siting, and monitoring medical marijuana dispensaries

Evolving Vaccine Trials: Adaptive Informed Consent in the Global Context

Challenges of insuring that participants in the developing world understand clinical trials and consent freely
Brenda Everling

IPS Stem Cells: New Ethical Quandaries

Induced pluripotent stem cells raise questions about cloning, privacy, and informed consent
Sally Lehrman

HIV Vaccine Development: A Call for Justice

The case for vaccine development as the best approach to the HIV/AIDS pandemic
Erin Cleveland

Outbreak: Discussion Module

Materials on developing pharmaceuticals for the Developing World, based on the case, The Outbreak, on this Web site.
Kari Kjos

Taking Stock of Neglected Diseases

Only 10 percent of global health research is dedicated to conditions responsible for 90 percent of the worldwide burden of disease.
Kari Kjos

Health Care Reform and Social Justice

Blue Shield of California CEO Bruce Bodaken discusses the ethical issues in various proposals for health care reform
Bruce Bodaken

Organ Transplantation: Protecting Donor Dignity

An exploration of organ transplantation after cardiac death
Margaret R. McLean

Health Care Reform: A Case for the Young and Healthy

A case study raising questions of fairness and personal responsibility in insurance coverage for young people.
Kari Kjos

Unavoidable Ethical Dilemmas of Pandemic Flu

Questions for policy makers preparing for pandemics
Kirk O. Hanson

Hospital's Ethical Obligation to the Uninsured

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Nick Welter

Duty of the Physician to an Uninsured Patient

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Ella Sanman

Role of Friends in a Medical Emergency

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Richelle Neal

Perspectives on Cognitive Enhancement

Hank Greely, professor of law at Stanford University, and the Emerging Issues Group at the Ethics Center look at the ethics of taking brain-boosting drugs.

Pharmacogenomics, Ethics, and Public Policy

How personalized medicine can develop in a way that promotes the good of both individuals and the broader society
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Relationship Between Physicians and Patients

Chair of the President's Council on Bioethics Edmund Pellegrino discusses the conflicts that can arise between patient autonomy and the personal beliefs of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists
Miriam Schulman

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Abdelmalek Yamani

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Abdelmalek Yamani

Pandemic Influenza Ethics Tool

Ethical issues to consider in preparing for a pandemic, prepared for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department
Margaret R. McLean

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Karen Peterson-Iyer

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate

A case study of how cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflection by Doha Raik Hamza

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Doha Raik Hamza

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Dr. Sheik Hassan and Dr. Hossam E. Fadel

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Dr. Sheik Hassan and Dr. Hossam E. Fadel

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality

A case study raising issues of culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Introduction to Culturally Competent Care

Background on how cultural differences affect the provision of care in a clinical setting
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Culturally Competent Care for Muslim Patients: Introduction to Cases and Reflections

Background on the specific ethical issues involved in providing culturally competent care to Muslim patients.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Doha Raik Hamza

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Doha Raik Hamza

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Sheik N. Hassan and Hossam E. Fadel

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Sheik N. Hassan and Hossam E. Fadel

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Karen Peterson-Iyer

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Abdelmalek Yamani

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Abdelmalek Yamani

Expanding Health Care Coverage: A Balm for California?

Applying Catholic social teaching to the problem of the uninsured.
Margaret R. McLean

Coming Pandemic: Ethical Preparedness

Procedural and distributive justice considerations in triage during a pandemic.
Margaret R. McLean

Ethics, Autonomy and the Treatment of Tuberculosis in Impoverished Patients in India

Undergraduate research addressing problems in applying the ethical principle of autonomy to contagious disease.
Kelsey Whittier

With Health Care and Justice for All

Catholic social teaching and the ethics of access to health care.
Margaret R. McLean

'J' Is for Justice

What principles should guide the distribution of scarce medical resources such as organs for transplant?
Margaret R. McLean

Pandemic Ethics

Questions for health care institutions about preparing ethically for a disaster.
Margaret R. McLean

The Outbreak

This fictionalized case addresses the ethical issues confronting governments, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies when faced with an epidemic.
Kirk O. Hanson

Pharmaceutical Decisions in Response to Epidemics: A Case Study

A video presentation, from the Ethics Center Conference, "The Future of Pharmaceuticals," which was held Oct. 3, 2003.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Gruesome tests on cadavers betray donors

We need a national system that eliminates for-profit middlemen and offers complete and accurate information to donors and their families about how donated bodies and parts might be used.
Michael Meyer

Short People

Implications of the FDA decision to allow the use of human growth hormone to treat short stature of unknown origin.
Miriam Schulman

Homeland Health Security

The SARS epidemic should convince us to prepare for the terror of disease-bearing microbes.
Margaret R. McLean

Minority Patients Need Culture Brokers

Cultural differences must be taken into account in providing medical care.
Margaret R. McLean and Margaret A. Graham

Is smallpox the real threat?

Post 9/11, we focus on protecting ourselves against a biological assault, but our crumbling health care infrastructure is a more immediate danger.
Margaret R. McLean

Russian Hostage Rescue Shows the Danger of 'non-lethal' Weapons

Ethical issues in the deployment of supposedly non-lethal weapons.
Margaret R. McLean and S.L. Bachman

Secret Behind Lower Teen Pregnancy

The determination of the African-American community to combat teen births, and the success that concerted community action has had in transforming child-bearing behavior.
June Carbone

You Are What You Eat

Personal responsibility in maintaining good health.
Miriam Schulman

Should Violent Felons Receive Organ Transplants?

Reflection on the decision to grant a California prisoner a heart transplant.
David Perry

Awareness Is Not Enough: Gender in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa

The role of gender inequality in the spread of AIDs in Africa.
Charlotte Vallaeys

Who Gets Seen

Access issues in health care.
Peter Facione and Noreen Facione

The Sole Remaining Supplier

What are the ethical questions involved when a company is the only supplier of a high-risk, life-saving product?
Thomas Shanks

Global Distribution of AIDS Pharmaceuticals

Ethical issues in the distribution of AIDS drugs, especially in the developing world.
David Perry

The Long Distance Cancer Treatment

Does an HMO have a responsibility to provide care at the closest possible medical center?
Thomas Shanks

Prescribing Under the Influence

The impact of gifts from drug companies to physicians.
E. Haavi Morreim

Medical Amnesty

Podcast of a discussion on university Good Samaritan policies related to alcohol consumption
Emerging Issues Group