The United States, along with other nations and international organizations, has developed an elaborate system of ethical norms and legal rules to govern biomedical research using human subjects. These policies govern research that might provide direct health benefits to participants and research in which there is no prospect for participant health benefits. There has been … Read more

Although the field of Surveillance Studies privileges detailed accounts of how and when surveillance occurs, it is also important to remain open to instances of aborted or failed surveillance and manifold impediments to surveillance. It is vital for researchers to document and theorize absence in order to better understand and perhaps mitigate the presence of … Read more

In a significant departure from established criteria for population screening, a 2006 report by the American College of Medical Geneticists (ACMG) argued that newborn screening may be justified by family and societal benefits even if the screened infant does not stand to benefit. The ACMG report has since been the backdrop for considerable debate about … Read more

OBJECTIVE: To describe obstetrician-gynecologists’ (ob-gyns’) views and willingness to help women seeking abortion in a variety of clinical scenarios. METHODS: We conducted a mailed survey of 1,800 U.S. ob-gyns. We presented seven scenarios in which patients sought abortions. For each, respondents indicated if they morally objected to abortion and if they would help patients obtain … Read more

Biodefense and emerging infectious disease animal research aims to avoid or ameliorate human disease and suffering arising from the natural outbreak or intentional deployment of some of the world’s most dreaded pathogens. Research to develop medical countermeasures to these diseases faces a difficult challenge since the products usually cannot be tested for efficacy in human … Read more

This article examines an explanation circulating within a U.S. multidisciplinary pediatric pain clinic that links the neurobiology of functional pain disorders to desirable personal attributes such as smartness and creativity. Drawing on ethnographic observations and the analysis of video-recorded clinical interactions and focusing on two cases, I introduce the term personhood diagnostics to explore how … Read more

Although extensive research addresses minorities’ low participation in clinical research, most focuses almost exclusively on therapeutic trials. The existing literature might mask important issues concerning minorities’ participation in clinical trials, and minorities might actually be overrepresented in phase I safety studies that require the participation of healthy volunteers. It is critical to consider the entire … Read more

How does contemporary science contribute to our understanding about what it means to be women or men? What are the social implications of scientific claims about differences between “male” and “female” brains, hormones, and genes? How does culture influence scientific and medical research and its findings about human sexuality, especially so-called normal and deviant desires … Read more

On July 25, 1978 in England, Louise Brown became the first baby born by in vitro fertilization (IVF). Three years later, Elizabeth Carr followed suit as the first “test tube baby” born in the United States. Since then, much has changed in the field of human reproduction. Once reported “with a fervor not seen since … Read more

Over the past decade, bioethicists have increasingly debated the moral status of research participation, or more specifically, whether there is a moral obligation to participate in biomedical research. This paper critically examines some of the key reasons for, motivations behind and consequences of conceiving research participation as a moral obligation. I argue that some important … Read more