Some Uncomfortable Ethical Dilemmas

2020 ◽  
pp. 308-336
Author(s):  
Alan McHughen

This book has discussed the scientific aspects of DNA, physically, chemically, and biologically, and then the applications of knowledge of how DNA works. This chapter covers nonscientific considerations of the use (and abuse) of our knowledge of DNA and genetics. Scientific information can provide the foundation of public policy involving scientific issues, but scientific information alone does not lead to sound policies. Ethics and socioeconomic and political realities also form an integral part of healthy discussion and debates surrounding the limits to human applications of technologies. This chapter discusses some ethical issues raised by various applications of our knowledge of DNA.

Author(s):  
Inmaculada de Melo-Martín ◽  
Kristen Intemann

This chapter offers a brief overview of the importance of epistemic trust and the relevance that scientific institutions and practices have in promoting or undermining warranted public trust. Epistemic trust is crucial for the production of scientific knowledge, the ability of the public to make sense of scientific phenomena, and the development of public policy. Normatively inappropriate dissent is more likely to take hold and erroneously affect people’s beliefs and actions in a context where the trustworthiness of scientists is called into question and where there is an excessive reliance on scientific information when it comes to assessing policy decisions. Thus, finding ways to facilitate and sustain warranted epistemic trust, as well as increasing understanding of the proper role of science in public policy decisions can help mitigate the negative impact of dissenting views.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Wilhelm ◽  
Lindsey Wilhelm

Abstract As a music therapy private practice is both a business and a healthcare service, it should adhere to ethical standards from both disciplines. However, this topic has rarely been examined in the music therapy literature. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore ethical dilemmas experienced by music therapy business owners (MTBOs) in their private practice and how MTBOs avoid or address ethical dilemmas. Utilizing convenience and snowball sampling techniques, 21 MTBOs in the United States were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. To answer the two areas of inquiry, we identified three themes and 12 subthemes: (1) Ethical issues related to client welfare, (2) Ethical issues related to business relationships and operation, and (3) Strategies to address or avoid ethical dilemmas. MTBOs also shared how they ensure ethical behavior in themselves, with their employees or independent contractors, and when interacting with professionals outside the private practice. These findings provide a better understanding of MTBOs’ lived experiences of ethics in their private practice and may benefit other music therapists who are in private practice or are wanting to go into private practice. Limitations and recommendations for further research are provided.


Author(s):  
Stuti Pant

AbstractAmongst all the traumatic experiences in a human life, death of child is considered the most painful, and has profound and lasting impact on the life of parents. The experience is even more complex when the death occurs within a neonatal intensive care unit, particularly in situations where there have been conflicts associated with decisions regarding the redirection of life-sustaining treatments. In the absence of national guidelines and legal backing, clinicians are faced with a dilemma of whether to prolong life-sustaining therapy even in the most brain-injured infants or allow a discharge against medical advice. Societal customs, vagaries, and lack of bereavement support further complicate the experience for parents belonging to lower socio-economic classes. The present review explores the ethical dilemmas around neonatal death faced by professionals in India, and suggests some ways forward.


Author(s):  
Jill Thistlethwaite ◽  
Wendy Hawksworth

This chapter explores the concept and practice of teamwork and interprofessional collaboration in the support and treatment of clients with mental health problems. Mental health care provision is complex, ethically challenging, and frequently delivered via mental health care teams (MHCT) in both primary and secondary health care settings. We consider how such teams may work together optimally using values-based and client-centered approaches. We discuss the nature of and reasons for conflict arising in multidisciplinary MHCTs, focusing on ethical dilemmas that occur where there is diversity amongst team members in respect of personal, professional, and/or organizational values. The specific ethical issues discussed are: boundary issues; receiving gifts; confidentiality, and involuntary treatment and restraint. Three case studies are used to provide examples of values in action.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-118
Author(s):  
Syaukani Syaukani

An effort to preserve and utilize manuscripts in this archipelago, especially religious manuscripts, is very important due to, at least, two reasons. Firstly, there has been abundant important information pertinent to religious phenomena in the manuscripts. Secondly, physical condition of the manuscripts has been increasingly fragile. Following the process of choosing the manuscript, the author has selected one of the manuscripts preserved in the State Museum of North Sumatra. This study employs the theory of philology, literature and history in analyzing the manuscript. Analyses are focused on the language used, the cultural background of the manuscript, and the social history of the region where it has been written. The findings of this study tell us that the manuscript, named Kashf al-Gharā’ib, is a classical Islamic manuscript which still has been well preserved at the State Museum of North Sumatra. It contains the scientific information of fiqh (Islamic law), especially discussing about the way of worshipping the God. The manuscript also consists of religious poems and problems of adab (ethics). Of the three topics discussed in this manuscript, I give considerable attention on worship and ethical issues.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoheb Rafique

This paper describes my experience of teaching bioethics in different institutes and degree courses at undergraduate level. Bioethics is being taught to improve the understanding of the ethical issues in the field of medicine. The students are being trained in bioethics to recognize and resolve different ethical dilemmas and also to combat the situations where ethical analysis is needed. This paper also focuses on teaching and assessment methods for undergraduate courses. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v5i2.19577 Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2014; 5(2):44-48


Author(s):  
Bonnie Rogers ◽  
Anita L. Schill

Work has become increasingly technologically driven and fast paced, with long work hours, new/emerging hazards, and rising health care costs. Threats to worker safety, health, and well-being including non-traditional work arrangements and practices, precarious work, uncertain hazardous exposures, and work organization issues, such as heavy workloads, design of work, uneven work hours, and difficult interpersonal relationships among workers and managers are apparent. Furthermore, the relationship between personal health risk factors and workplace risks and exposures has drawn increased attention and concern. As employer economic pressures continue to build, it is anticipated that ethical dilemmas for practitioners will become increasingly complex. A review of relevant Total Worker Health (TWH) literature, related ethical constructs and competencies, an examination of codes of ethics for occupational safety and health and health promotion/education disciplines was conducted. A case study for TWH utilizing an ethical decision-making model for the analysis of key ethical issues and solutions was completed. TWH approaches to protecting safety, promoting health, and advancing well-being are increasingly being adopted. These approaches can reveal ethical dilemmas, and ethical constructs are needed to guide decision-making. A core set of proposed ethical competencies for TWH professionals are identified as a transdisciplinary framework to support workplace ethical culture.


Author(s):  
Anna Magdalena Elsner

Ethical issues arising in the practice of psychotherapy, such as confidentiality, boundaries in the therapeutic relationship, and informed consent, figure prominently in a range of twentieth-century literary texts that portray psychotherapy. This chapter analyzes the portrayal of these conflicts, but also stresses that they are often marginal to the overall plot structures of these narratives and that literary depictions of psychotherapy are often vague or even inaccurate concerning key characteristics of psychotherapeutic practice. Focusing on examples that either illustrate professionalism and the absence of ethical challenges in psychotherapy, or take up the ethical reservations that fueled anti-Freudianism or the anti-psychiatry movement, the chapter proposes that selected literary depictions of psychotherapy can play a key role in sensitizing therapists to the complex make-up of ethical dilemmas as well as illustrating the cultural and historical contexts of these dilemmas.


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