Bioethics News and Research

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Article calls for international governance system to oversee access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments

Human challenge trials to test the efficacy of vaccine candidates against SARS? CoV? 2, the novel coronavirus behind COVID? 19, could save considerable time and many lives.

11 Jun 2020

Majority of hospitalized patients with advanced cancer have functional impairment

New research from Mass General Cancer Center, published in the June 2020 issue of JNCCN--Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, found 40.2% of hospitalized patients with advanced, incurable cancer were functionally impaired at the time of admission, meaning they needed assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) like walking, bathing, getting dressed, or other routine tasks. Patients with functional impairment also had higher rates of pain, depression, and anxiety, and were more likely to have longer hospital stays and worse survival.

8 Jun 2020

Study investigates the ethical dilemmas associated with assisted reproduction

Researcher Judith Lind has studied how staff at fertility clinics view the assessments that childless couples and women undergo in order to access assisted reproduction.

5 Jun 2020

Study provides an ethical way to advance medical discovery and innovation

Every major medical center in America sits on a gold mine. The data they hold about their patients and research participants could be worth millions of dollars to companies that would explore it for clues that could lead to new medicines, medical technologies, health apps, and more.

29 May 2020

New article gives policy recommendations to optimize health outcomes and disability rights

Disability rights advocates are concerned that crisis triage protocols aimed at allocating scarce health care resources to save the most lives could be biased against people with disabilities.

20 May 2020

COVID-19 pandemic may signal the end of egalitarian National Health Service

Dr Sabrina Germain, a Senior Lecturer in The City Law School, says the COVID-19 pandemic could signal the end of the National Health Service based on the liberal egalitarian conception of distributive justice.

28 Apr 2020

Wits University releases first clinical data on COVID-19 in South Africa

For example, do they resuscitate patients even though the prospects of recovery are slim and the risk to the healthcare team high? How should healthcare workers respond?

27 Apr 2020

Annals of Internal Medicine: COVID-19 and other health system catastrophes

Below please find a summary and link(s) of new coronavirus-related content published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.

25 Apr 2020

Should age be a prioritizing factor in deciding who gets treated for COVID-19?

With pubic healthcare systems becoming increasingly strained due to the impact of COVID-19, healthcare professionals are having to question whether to factor age in as a priority when deciding who to treat.

22 Apr 2020

COVID-19: Gender-based violence during global emergencies

Gender-based violence has been shown to increase during global emergencies. In a paper just published by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, researchers report that according to early evidence it is the same for the COVID-19 pandemic.

20 Apr 2020

A desperate scramble as COVID-19 families vie for access to plasma therapy

Stephen Garcia's family is frantic. The auto body worker, just 32 years old, has been on a ventilator in a Los Angeles-area hospital for nearly two weeks, gravely ill with COVID-19, unresponsive — and unaware of the battle they're waging on his behalf.

15 Apr 2020

More than 5,000 surgery centers can now serve as makeshift hospitals during COVID-19 crisis

The Trump administration cleared the way Monday to immediately use outpatient surgery centers, inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, hotels and even dormitories as makeshift hospitals, health care centers or quarantine sites during the coronavirus crisis.

30 Mar 2020

As coronavirus spreads widely, millions of older Americans live in counties with no ICU beds

More than half the counties in America have no intensive care beds, posing a particular danger for more than 7 million people who are age 60 and up - older patients who face the highest risk of serious illness or death from the rapid spread of COVID-19, a Kaiser Health News data analysis shows.

20 Mar 2020

Experts provide evidence to support the feasibility of coronavirus mobile app for instant contact tracing

A team of medical research and bioethics experts at Oxford University are supporting several European governments to explore the feasibility of a coronavirus mobile app for instant contact tracing.

17 Mar 2020

During a pandemic, states’ patchwork of crisis plans could mean uneven care

A possible coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm the nation's hospitals and force doctors into difficult decisions about how to allocate limited resources. Yet, experts say, only a handful of states have done the work necessary to prepare for such worst-case scenarios.

5 Mar 2020

Racial, socioeconomic disparities found among patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer

Survival outcomes for HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck have made significant gains in recent years, but new research in the February 2020 issue of JNCCN--Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network finds some groups are being left behind.

6 Feb 2020

Study highlights the prevalence of alcohol use among cancer survivors

New research in the January 2020 issue of JNCCN-Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network uses data from the National Health Interview Survey from 2000 to 2017 to examine self-reported drinking habits among people reporting a cancer diagnosis.

8 Jan 2020

A reality check on artificial intelligence: Are health care claims overblown?

Health products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drugstore chatbots.

30 Dec 2019

Texas law highlights dilemma over care for patients with no hope of survival

Critically ill Tinslee Lewis - a Fort Worth baby embroiled in a dispute between her family and a hospital over whether to continue life-sustaining treatment - is the most recent public face of the heartbreaking and intractable dilemmas often confronted quietly in intensive care units.

23 Dec 2019

Authors take in-depth look at risks associated with medical AI/ML systems

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) are increasingly transforming the healthcare sector. From spotting malignant tumours to reading CT scans and mammograms, AI/ML-based technology is faster and more accurate than traditional devices - or even the best doctors. But along with the benefits come new risks and regulatory challenges.

6 Dec 2019