Another Defense of Abortion: What Transplant Ethics Tells Us about the Ethics of Abortion after Dobbs.

In 1971, two years before Roe v. Wade affirmed federal protection for abortion, Judith Jarvis Thomson attempted to demonstrate the wrongs of forced gestation through analogy: you awake to find that the world's most esteemed violinist is wholly, physically dependent on you for life support. Here, the authors suggest that Thomson's intuition, that there is a relevant similarity between providing living kidney support and forced gestation, is realized in the contemporary practice of living organ donation. After detailing the robust analogy between living kidney donation and gestation, we turn to current ethical guidelines incorporated in the United Network for Organ Sharing's requirements for legally authorized organ donation and transplantation. We conclude that if, as we-and Thomson-suggest, organ donation and gestation are relevantly similar, then the ethical framework supporting donation may aid in articulating ethical grounds that will be compelling in informing the legal grounds for a defense of abortion.

Establishing and Defining an Approach to Climate Conscious Clinical Medical Ethics.

An anthropocentric scope for clinical medical ethics (CME) has largely separated this area of bioethics from environmental concerns. In this article, we first identify and reconcile the ethical issues imposed on CME by climate change including the dispersion of related causes and effects, the transdisciplinary and transhuman nature of climate change, and the historic divorce of CME from the environment. We then establish how several moral theories undergirding modern CME, such as virtue ethics, feminist ethics, and several theories of justice, promote both a flourishing of human medical practice and the environment. We conclude by defining an expanded the scope of CME as inclusive of not only patients, families, physicians, and other health professionals but other humans, non-humans, and their shared environment. We then apply this scope and theory to a widely used framework for applying CME, the Four Topics model, to construct a climate conscious approach to CME.

From informed to empowered consent.

Informed consent is ethically incomplete and should be redefined as empowered consent. This essay challenges theoretical assumptions of the value of informed consent in light of substantial evidence of its failure in clinical practice and questions the continued emphasis on autonomy as the primary ethical justification for the practice of consent in health care. Human dignity-rather than autonomy-is advanced from a nursing ethics perspective as a preferred justification for consent practices in health care. The adequacy of an ethic of obligation (namely, principlism) as the dominant theoretical lens for recognising and responding to persistent problems in consent practices is also reconsidered. A feminist empowerment framework is adopted as an alternative ethical theory to principlism and is advanced as a more practical and complete lens for examining the concept and context of consent in health care. To accomplish this, the three leading conceptions of informed consent are overviewed, followed by a feminist critique to reveal practical problems with each of them. The need for a language change from informed to empowered consent is strongly considered. Implications for consent activities in clinical practice are reviewed with focused discussion on the need for greater role clarity for all involved in consent-beyond and inclusive of the patient-physician dyad, as the practice and improvement of consent is necessarily a transdisciplinary endeavour. Specific concrete and practical recommendations for leveraging nursing expertise in this space are presented. Perhaps what is most needed in the discourse and practice of consent in health care is nursing.

Autonomy, power, and place: Ethical considerations at the intersections of substance use care, and the sex trade.

Substance use disorder (SUD) care among women in the sex trade poses multiple ethical challenges. We propose a framework with three lenses-autonomy, power, and place-that can inform and help improve more ethical clinical care for people who trade sex seeking SUD treatment. A relational perspective on autonomy, an analysis of power relations in the clinic, and a geographical analysis can inform how we create space for people with experience in the sex trade in substance use treatment facilities and beyond. We conclude with some practical applications of this framework, all while integrating a composite clinical vignette throughout our analysis. This analysis addresses a clinical and ethical gap in ways to provide better care for women in the sex trade, an understudied and chronically marginalized population deserving of care that meets them where they are.

Beyond the consult question: Nurse ethicists as architects of moral spaces.

Nurse Ethicists bring a unique perspective to clinical ethics consultation. This perspective provides an appreciation of ethical tensions that will exist beyond the consult question into the moral space of patient care. These tensions exist even when an ethically preferable plan of action is identified. Ethically appropriate courses of action can still lead to moral dilemmas for others. The nurse ethicist provides a lens well suited to identify and respond to these dilemmas. The nurse-patient relationship is the ethical foundation of nursing practice and this relational ontology is well suited to addressing ethical dilemmas that exist prior to and beyond the initial consult question. This paper will describe one nurse ethicist's phronetic and pragmatic approach to a clinical ethics consult elucidated through feminist ethics and systems thinking. This paper will describe the theoretical basis for this method, present a case, and describe how this consultation approach provides a rich analysis based around relationships and responsibilities that also highlights the important ethical tensions within the social structure that exists around the patient and continue after the consult question is answered.

Ethics of care in technology-mediated healthcare practices: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Introducing new technologies into healthcare practices may challenge professionals' traditional care cultures. The aim of this review was to map how the 'ethics of care' theoretical framework informs empirical studies of technology-mediated healthcare. METHOD: A scoping review was performed using eight electronic databases: CINAHL with full text, Academic Search Premier, MEDLINE, the Philosopher's Index, SocINDEX with Full Text, SCOPUS, APA PsycInfo and Web of Science. This was followed by citation tracking, and articles were assessed against the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: Of the 443 initial articles, 18 met the criteria and were included. We found that nine of the articles used the concept of 'ethics of care' (herein used interchangeably with the terms 'feminist ethics' or 'relational ethics') insubstantially. The remaining nine articles deployed care ethics (or its equivalent) substantially as an integrated theoretical framework and analytical tool. We found that several articles suggested an expansion of ethics of care to encompass technologies as part of contemporary care. Furthermore, ethics of care contributed to the empirical research by recognising both new relationships between patients and healthcare professionals as well as new ethical challenges. CONCLUSION: Ethics of care is sparsely used as a theoretical framework in empirical studies of technology-mediated healthcare practices. The use of ethics of care in technology-mediated care brings new dilemmas, relational tensions and vulnerabilities to the foreground. For ethics of care to be used more explicit in empirical studies, it is important that it is recognised by research community as an adequate, universal ethical theory.

A ética do cuidado e cuidado paliativo pediátrico: um diálogo possível / The ethics of care and pediatric palliative care: a potential dialogue

Resumo Este artigo, sob a forma de ensaio, tem como objetivo fazer uma interlocução entre a ética do cuidado e o cuidado paliativo pediátrico, considerando que as percepções morais são tecidas a partir de uma rede de relações e que o cuidado se constrói na intersubjetividade. Discute-se com base em quatro pilares, a que chamamos de movimentos: a ética do cuidado, como ética feminista, em diálogo com o cuidado paliativo pediátrico, a comunicação e a autonomia como ferramentas de cuidado a partir de suas características relacionais. Conclui-se que considerar esses aspectos na abordagem paliativa pode ser um caminho para exercer um compromisso moral de cuidado.

Abstract This article, in an essay format, seeks to establish a dialogue between the ethics of care and pediatric palliative care, taking into consideration the fact that moral perceptions are based on a network of relationships, while care is built on intersubjectivity. Four pillars that are referred to as movements are discussed: the ethics of care, as a feminist ethic, in a dialogue with pediatric palliative care, and communication and autonomy as tools of care based on their relational aspects. The conclusion drawn is that considering these aspects from a palliative standpoint can be a way to implement a moral commitment of care.

Towards a culture of care for ethical review: connections and frictions in institutional and individual practices of social research ethics.

As researchers, institution-wide regulatory and organisational cultures guide our work. Over the past two decades, University Research Ethics Committees have been formally established across social science disciplines. However, the functioning of these committees has not been without critique. It is often argued that established ethical procedures informed by the medical sciences do not fit well with the more iterative epistemologies and unpredictable practices of doing social fieldwork. In this paper, I contribute to these discussions by considering what a further framework, a 'culture of care', might offer to university research ethics. A culture of care has evolved in contexts like the National Health Service (NHS) and animal research, and makes central claims around support, openness, collaboration and relationships. Bringing this to research ethics, I explore experiences of care through moments of friction in doing fieldwork with people living with Motor Neurone Disease. Identifying gaps between the institutional, personal and relational, I tentatively suggest some key features that a culture of care for research ethics might seek to develop. These discussions are also timely. Wider conversations emerging around reimagining research cultures in higher education provide an opportune moment to consider what a reimagined research ethics might look like and offer too.

Bioethics and the Moral Authority of Experience.

While experience often affords important knowledge and insight that is difficult to garner through observation or testimony alone, it also has the potential to generate conflicts of interest and unrepresentative perspectives. We call this tension the paradox of experience. In this paper, we first outline appeals to experience made in debates about access to unproven medical products and disability bioethics, as examples of how experience claims arise in bioethics and some of the challenges raised by these claims. We then motivate the idea that experience can be an asset by appealing to themes in feminist and moral epistemology, distinguishing between epistemic and justice-based appeals. Next, we explain the concern that experience may be a liability by appealing to empirical work on cognitive biases and theoretical work about the problem of partial representation. We conclude with preliminary recommendations for addressing the paradox and offer several questions for future discussion.

Injustices Implied in the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Market.

This article critiques the current theological basis that deems assisted reproductive technologies (ART) as immoral, namely that it dissociates the unitive act from procreation, and that it violates the dignity of the embryo. It is argued that notwithstanding the validity of these moral truths, these issues are of little relevance to couples facing childlessness. Three alternative views are then presented, all based on the injustices related to the ART market: (a) injustices that directly affect the couple and their offspring, (b) unfairness related to the commercial aspect of ART markets, and (c) the overall effects that impinge on society at large. Therefore, instead of burdening childless couples wanting to have children of their own with the culpability of sin for resorting to ART, one must rather make them aware that they are prey to the ART market while calling for better regulation of this system in order to mitigate these injustices. The article ends with some recommendations on how to address these injustices.

Care ethics framework for midwifery practice: A scoping review.

Background: As a normative theory, care ethics has become widely theorized and accepted. However, there remains a lack of clarity in relation to its use in practice, and a care ethics framework for practice. Maternity care is fraught with ethical issues and care ethics may provide an avenue to enhance ethical sensitivity.Aim: The purpose of this scoping review is to determine how care ethics is used amongst health professions, and to collate the information in data charts to create a care ethics framework and definition for midwifery practice.Method: The scoping review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) recommendations. The search was applied to the databases CINAHL, MEDLINE, PschInfo and Pubmed which were searched in September 2019 and again in July 2021. The inclusion criteria were guided by the mnemonic for search terms: Participants, Concept, and Context (PCC) and included variations of health care professionals, care ethics and utilization. The search was limited to qualitative studies published in English between 2010 and 2021. A data extraction tool was used to extract and synthesize data into categories. The articles were screened for eligibility by title, abstract and full text review, by two independent reviewers.Ethical Considerations: The scoping review was guided by ethical conduct respecting authorship and referencing sources.Results: Twelve of the initially identified 129 studies were included in the scoping review. Data synthesis yielded four categories of care ethics use by health professionals: relationship, context, attention to power and caring practices. In combination, the evidence forms a framework for care ethics use in midwifery practice.Conclusion: Care ethics use by health professionals enhances ethical sensitivity. A framework and definition for care ethics for midwifery practice is proposed. This review will be of interest to midwives and other health practitioners seeking to enhance ethical sensitivity.

Acknowledging vulnerability in ethics of palliative care - A feminist ethics approach.

Patients in need of palliative care are often described as vulnerable. Being vulnerable can sometimes be interpreted as the opposite of being autonomous, if an autonomous person is seen as an independent, self-sufficient person who forms decisions independently of others. Such a dichotomous view can create a situation where one has experiences of vulnerability that cannot be reconciled with the central ethical principle of autonomy. The article presents a feminist ethical perspective on the conceptualisation of vulnerability in the context of palliative care. It does so through the lens of the concepts of inherent and pathogenic vulnerability from the taxonomy on vulnerability suggested by Mackenzie et al. To differentiate between forms of vulnerability, is important since even though vulnerability can be regarded as a shared life condition it can be the product of practices creating harm to the patient. The article also presents an analysis of how vulnerability can be included in the interpretation of the ethical principle of autonomy, in order to be relevant in palliative care where vulnerability is salient, namely, as relational autonomy. Furthermore, two practical implications for nursing practice are suggested. Firstly, to acknowledge vulnerability as a shared life condition one needs training in order to neither be overwhelmed by one's own vulnerability, nor become invulnerable when facing vulnerability in others. Secondly, to foster relational autonomy includes navigating between the patient exercising their autonomy within a framework of relations, and shielding the patient from paternalistic practices. Nurses could be particularly suited for this role, which includes creating an environment which is open and supportive; navigating between patient, family and staff; seeing and acknowledging the complex situation in which patient autonomy is actually played out; and promoting patient autonomy.

Nurses' Experiences of their Ethical Responsibilities during Coronavirus Outbreaks: A Scoping Review.

Globally, nurses have experienced changes to the moral conditions of their work during coronavirus outbreaks. To identify the challenges and sources of support in nurses' efforts to meet their ethical responsibilities during SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 outbreaks a scoping review design was chosen. A search was conducted for eligible studies in Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase and Embase Classic, EBSCO CINAHL Plus, OVID APA PsycInfo, ProQuest ASSIA, and ProQuest Sociological Abstracts on August 19, 2020 and November 9, 2020. The PRISMA-ScR checklist was used to ensure rigor. A total of 5204 records were identified of which 41 studies were included. Three themes were identified related challenges in meeting ethical responsibilities: 1) substandard care, 2) impeded relationships, 3) organizational and system responses and six themes relating to sources of support: 1) team and supervisor relationships, 2) organizational change leading to improved patient care, 3) speaking out, 4) finding meaning, 5) responses by patients and the public, 6) self-care strategies.Our review revealed how substandard care and public health measures resulted in nurses not being fully able to meet their ethical responsibilities of care. These included the visitation policies that impeded the support of patients by nurses and families, particularly with respect to face-to-face relationships. Organizational and system responses to the evolving outbreaks, such as inadequate staffing, also contributed to these challenges. Supportive relationships with colleagues and supervisors, however, were very beneficial, along with positive responses from patients and the public.

Trauma Informed Ethics Consultation.

We argue for the addition of trauma informed awareness, training, and skill in clinical ethics consultation by proposing a novel framework for Trauma Informed Ethics Consultation (TIEC). This approach expands on the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) framework for, and key insights from feminist approaches to, ethics consultation, and the literature on trauma informed care (TIC). TIEC keeps ethics consultation in line with the provision of TIC in other clinical settings. Most crucially, TIEC (like TIC) is systematically sensitive to culture, history, difference, power, social exclusion, oppression, and marginalization. By engaging a neonatal intensive care ethics consult example, we define our TIEC approach and illustrate its application. Through TIEC we argue it is the role of ethics consultants to not only hold open moral spaces, but to furnish them in morally habitable ways for all stakeholders involved in the ethics consultation process, including patients, surrogates, and practitioners.

"Reflection and soul searching": Negotiating nursing identity at the fault lines of palliative care and medical assistance in dying.

Authorities within the field of palliative care frequently espouse that assisted death is - and must remain - separate from palliative care. This fault line, between palliative care and assisted death, has important implications for how we enact end-of-life care, particularly in jurisdictions where assisted death is legal. And yet little is known about how direct-care clinicians providing palliative care navigate this demarcation in everyday practice. This qualitative study reports on semi-structured interviews with 22 palliative care nurses from across Canada, where assisted death was legalized in 2016. Although a minority of participants did express categorical opinions around the (non) legitimacy of assisted death as an ethical end-of-life care option, most engaged in an ongoing and sometimes painful process of questioning and self-examination. Their ethical reflections were more nuanced than simply dismissing MAiD as incompatible with palliative care philosophy; yet this idea of incompatibility weighed heavily as they reasoned through their experiences and questioned their own perspectives. Nurses described grappling with the finality of assisted death, which contradicts their belief in the telos of palliative care; when adequately resourced, palliative care should be available to support people to live well before death. At the same time, commitment to important palliative care values such as the non-abandonment of dying people and respecting peoples' individual end-of-life choices reveal the possibility of overlap between the ethos of assisted death and that of palliative care nursing. Drawing on scholarship in feminist ethics, our study sheds light on the moral identity work that assisted dying catalyzes amongst palliative care nurses. We highlight what is at stake for them as they navigate a delicate tension in responding ethically to patients whose suffering motivates an interest in assisted death, from within a wider professional collective that upholds a master narrative about the incompatibility of assisted death and palliative care.

The need for a unified ethical stance on child genital cutting.

The American College of Nurse-Midwives, American Society for Pain Management Nursing, American Academy of Pediatrics, and other largely US-based medical organizations have argued that at least some forms of non-therapeutic child genital cutting, including routine penile circumcision, are ethically permissible even when performed on non-consenting minors. In support of this view, these organizations have at times appealed to potential health benefits that may follow from removing sexually sensitive, non-diseased tissue from the genitals of such minors. We argue that these appeals to "health benefits" as a way of justifying medically unnecessary child genital cutting practices may have unintended consequences. For example, it may create a "loophole" through which certain forms of female genital cutting-or female genital "mutilation" as it is defined by the World Health Organization-could potentially be legitimized. Moreover, by comparing current dominant Western attitudes toward female genital "mutilation" and so-called intersex genital "normalization" surgeries (i.e. surgeries on children with certain differences of sex development), we show that the concept of health invoked in each case is inconsistent and culturally biased. It is time for Western healthcare organizations-including the American College of Nurse-Midwives, American Society for Pain Management Nursing, American Academy of Pediatrics, and World Health Organization-to adopt a more consistent concept of health and a unified ethical stance when it comes to child genital cutting practices.

REASONS TO REDEFINE MORAL DISTRESS: A FEMINIST EMPIRICAL BIOETHICS ANALYSIS.

There has been increasing debate in recent years about the conceptualization of moral distress. Broadly speaking, two groups of scholars have emerged: those who agree with Jameton's 'narrow definition' that focuses on constraint and those who argue that Jameton's definition is insufficient and needs to be broadened. Using feminist empirical bioethics, we interviewed critical care nurses in the United Kingdom about their experiences and conceptualizations of moral distress. We provide our broader definition of moral distress and examples of data that both challenge and support our conceptualization. We pre-empt and overcome three key challenges that could be levelled at our account and argue that there are good reasons to adopt our broader definition of moral distress when exploring prevalence of, and management strategies for, moral distress.

When a patient's choices entail risks for others: third-party risks, relational ethics, and responsibilities of rehabilitation professionals.

PURPOSE: Patients receiving rehabilitation care may act in ways that pose risks to the wellbeing of others. There are numerous situations when patients' actions might pose risks to others, including family members, other patients, or society. For example, such risks arise if patients wish to return home to living in an apartment but risk starting a fire while cooking, or if they insist on driving but their health condition makes doing so unsafe. These situations give rise to ethical challenges, including for health professionals as they seek to promote their patient's autonomy while minimizing risks for the patient and others. METHODS: We develop a conceptual analysis examining how relational ethics can inform understanding of rehabilitation professionals' responsibilities in responding to third-party risk. RESULTS: Relational ethics foregrounds the situated, dynamic, and interdependent nature of relationships between people, and supports dialogic approaches to clarify how best to respond. We present a set of 10 questions linked to the concepts of relational autonomy and relational social justice that can contribute to ethical reflection and deliberation among providers, patients, families, and others involved. CONCLUSION: Relational ethics provides a distinctive angle of view on challenging issues of third-party risk in rehabilitation care.Implications for rehabilitationManaging risk is a recurrent source of ethical challenge in rehabilitation care.Risks to third parties give rise to significant ethical tensions.We propose ten questions that can support a relational ethics approach for responding to situations of third-party risk.

A prática do enfermeiro na implementação de políticas públicas para a população negra: à luz da ética feminista / The practice of nurses in the implementation of public policies for the black population: in the light of feminist ethics

Resumo Este estudo analisou as contribuições da prática do enfermeiro na implementação da Política Nacional de Saúde Integral da População Negra em comunidades quilombolas, sob o prisma da ética feminista. Estudo de caso único e integrado de abordagem qualitativa fundamentado na teoria da ética feminista. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre fevereiro e junho de 2018 por meio de entrevistas realizadas com sete enfermeiros da Estratégia Saúde da Família, que atuam em comunidades quilombolas na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de conteúdo com auxílio do software ATLAS.ti, versão 8. Os resultados apontaram contribuições da prática do enfermeiro na implementação da PNSIPN e estão apresentados pelas seguintes categorias: criação de vínculo; enfermeiro na comunidade e; reconhecimento das particularidades da comunidade. Tais aspectos se mostraram importantes para a implementação efetiva da Política Nacional de Saúde Integral da População Negra na comunidade.

ABSTRACT This qualitative integrated single-case study analyzed the role of nursing professionals in implementing the National Policy for the Integral Health of the Black Population in quilombola communities, based on the Feminist Ethics approach. Data collection took place between February and June 2018 by means of interviews conducted with nurses from the Family Health Strategy working in quilombola communities in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The data underwent Content Analysis, via ATLAS.ti software, version 8. Results show that nursing professionals contributed to implementing the PNSIPN, acting on the following categories: "bonding", "community nurse" and "acknowledgment of community specificities". Such aspects are important to implement the National Policy for the Integral Health of the Black Population in the community.

'A German Whore and no Money at that': Insanity and the Moral and Political Economies of German South West Africa.

While the links between colonial psychiatry and racism figure prominently in histories of the diagnosis, treatment and institutionalisation of the mentally ill in Africa, there is an absence of patient-centred accounts, in the analysis of the efforts of the colonial-era subjects themselves to be pro-active not merely as the mentally ill, by clinical or court definition, but as persons embedded in social relationships with their kin and significant others. Moreover, despite an emerging scholarship, little is known of the experience of European settlers. In this respect there is a need for a more balanced representation, one that shows the ambivalence of colonial psychiatry and its reach into the lives of colonial subjects, Africans and Europeans alike. In this paper I focus on the narratives of a settler in German South West Africa and her efforts to escape diagnosis and institutionalisation. In building on a feminist approach to illness narratives, in particular on the idea of bearing empathic witness, I will explore the ways in which illness narratives can reveal the complex moral and political economies of the colonial world.