Vaccination Abstention and the Principle of Autonomy
In the debate over vaccination abstention, the right to refuse medical treatment and the right to bodily integrity are in conflict with concerns of justice and public health. How can we make headway in the deadlock?
Does Care Require Personhood? The Ethics of Robot Caregiving
Emerging healthcare technologies like Rudy, Addison, and PARO should prompt us to reassess the healthcare industry and to contemplate the difference between service and care.
The UK Novocaine Shortage and Animal Welfare
Industrial agriculture has pacified some critics by using Novocaine to ease animal suffering. But what happens when there isn't enough anesthetic to go around? And what's the value of using pain relief for animals set for slaughter?
The Inherent Conflict in Informed Consent
Informed consent might look like an innocuous legal standard, but it masks a divisive political arena. And the struggle between autonomy and paternalism is not without casualties.
Death and Consciousness: The Prospect of Brain Resuscitation
New research involving brain resuscitation holds great promise and presents even greater challenges.
Second-Victim Phenomenon
How can we properly attend to the health of both patient and physician when unintended harm occurs?
From Picking Fruit to Buying It: The Health of California Farmworkers
When we buy fruit at the grocery store, we often fail to realize the intensive and undervalued human labor that goes into growing and harvesting that fruit.
The Ethics of Philosophical Exemptions
Given the threat to public health, what bar should a claim to philosophical exemption from vaccination need to clear?
What It Means to Legalize Euthanasia
Societal acceptance of physician-assisted suicide has been growing, but the costs aren't always so easy to see.
Depression, “Special K,” and the FDA
A powerful new antidepressant is set to hit the market, but should the FDA be in the business of fast-tracking drug approval based on need?