Bioethics

Last update: 1 October 2009,
by Maureen Bell

I've divided this page into a number of sections, each of which focuses on a different aspect of bioethics.

Searching Medline - tips on using the Medline thesaurus when searching this topic.
Codes of professional ethics and statements of human rights
Organ procurement
Stem cell research, and human cloning
Euthanasia, and assisted suicide
Other bioethics web resources

Searching Medline

Remember that Medline has a Thesaurus of terms - MeSH (Medical Subject Headings), a controlled vocabulary used for indexing articles in Medline. MeSH terminology provides a consistent way to retrieve information where authors may use different terminology for the same concepts.

You will find material on bioethics in Medline, but you will need to be aware of the thesaurus (MeSH) terms used to search for topics in this area. Below are some examples of the language Medline uses to describe the concepts in this field.

MeSH - Ethics

MeSH - Euthanasia, Active

MeSH - Genetic Enhancement

MeSH - Health Care Rationing

MeSH - Jurisprudence

MeSH - Patient Rights

MeSH - Tissue and Organ Harvesting

Many topics in MeSH have hierarchies of more specific subcategories or related terms. The indentations in the lists reflect the structure of the hierarchy, and the + signs at the end of terms indicate that there is a further hierarchy of terms not displayed here. Any of these terms can be searched individually, or you can "explode" terms to search sections of the list. For example "exploding" Ethics, Professional would retrieve articles not only on professional ethics generally, but also on dental, medical, nursing, and pharmacy professional ethics.

Try using the search structure below for finding articles on medical ethics and treatment refusal

COMBINE

Ethics, Medical (MeSH term)
The principles of proper professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families. (From Stedman, 25th ed)

AND

Treatment Refusal (MeSH term)
Patient or client refusal of or resistance to medical, psychological, or psychiatric treatment. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)

PubMed Search Formulation

Click here to see how it works. PubMed Search.

The database BIOETHICSLINE which used to be available from the National Library of Medicine is no longer being maintained, although it is possible to apply a bioethics subset to PubMed searches. Click here to see the strategy it utilises. See the link below for hints on searching the bioethics literature now that the specialist database is no longer available.

National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature - After BIOETHICSLINE: Online Searching of the Bioethics Literature - Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 2001, 11(4) 387-389

Codes of Professional Ethics and Statements of Human Rights

American Academy of Psychiatry & the Law Ethical Guidelines for the Practice of Forensic Psychiatry

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Code of Ethics

American Occupational Therapy Association. Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics

American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct

The Belmont Report--Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research
The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research April 18, 1979.

Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists

Codes of Ethics Online: Health Care
A collection of links from the Illinois Institute of Technology Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions.

Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

Hippocratic Oath

Nuremberg Code

Principles of Medical Ethics relevant to the Role of Health Personnel, particularly Physicians, in the Protection of Prisoners and Detainees against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 37/194 of 18 December 1982.

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists: Code of Ethics

World Medical Association. Policies
Some of the better known documents are listed individually below, but they represent only a small selection from an extensive list.

World Medical Association. Declaration of Helsinki
Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Adopted by the 18th WMA general Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964, and amended by the:
29th WMA General Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975
35th WMA General Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983
41st WMA General Assembly, Hong Kong, September 1989
48th WMA General Assembly, Somerset West, Republic of South Africa, October 1996
52nd WMA General Assembly, Edinburgh, Scotland, October 2000
53rd WMA General Assembly, Washington 2002 (Note of Clarification on paragraph 29 added)
55th WMA General Assembly, Tokyo 2004 (Note of Clarification on Paragraph 30 added)
59th WMA General Assembly, Seoul, October 2008.

World Medical Association. Declaration of Oslo
Declaration on Therapeutic Abortion. Adopted by the 24th World Medical Assembly, Oslo, Norway, 1970, and amended by the 35th World Medical Assembly Venice, Italy, October 1983 and the WMA General Assembly, Pilanesberg, South Africa, October 2006.

World Medical Association. Declaration of Sydney
Declaration on Death. Adopted by the 22nd World Medical Assembly, Sydney, Australia, August 1968, and amended by the 35th World Medical Assembly Venice, Italy, October 1983.

World Medical Association. Declaration of Tokyo
Guidelines for Medical Doctors concerning Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in relation to Detention and Imprisonment As adopted by the 29th World Medical Assembly, Tokyo, Japan, October 1975, and editorially revised at the 170th Council Session, Divonne-les-Bains, France, May 2005 and the 173rd Council Session, Divonne-les-Bains, France, May 2006.

World Medical Association. International Code of Medical Ethics
Adopted by the 3rd General Assembly of the World Medical Association, London, England, October 1949 and amended by the 22nd World Medical Assembly Sydney, Australia, August 1968 and the 35th World Medical Assembly Venice, Italy, October 1983 and the WMA General Assembly, Pilanesberg, South Africa, October 2006.

World Medical Association Statement on Ethical Issues Concerning Patients with Mental Illness
Adopted by the 47th General Assembly Bali, Indonesia, September 1995, and Revised by the WMA General Assembly, Pilanesberg, South Africa, October 2006.

Organ and Tissue Procurement

Families and Post Mortems: A Code of practice, forms and information leaflets: Outcome 25 April 2003 : The Department of Health - Consultations

The Gift of Life: Ethical Issues in Organ Transplantation
American College of Surgeons Regents Committee on Ethics: 1995 Ethics and Philosophy Lecture by James F. Childress.

National Health and Medical Research Counci - Organ Donation publications

Non-Heart-Beating Organ Transplantation: Medical and Ethical Issues in Procurement
John T. Potts, Principal Investigator; Roger Herdman, Project Director; Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National Academy Press, 1997.

Organ Donation
From the National Health Service, UK. Included at this site is the full text of a number of govenment reports and enquiries.

Report into the Retention of Body Parts After Post-Mortems
A report by the Solicitor General to the Minister for Human Services, South Australia, August 6, 2001.

The Royal Liverpool Children's Inquiry
In December 1999 an Inquiry Panel was appointed to investigate the removal, retention and disposal of human organs and tissues following post mortem examination at The Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital. This is their report.

Stem Cell Research, and Human Cloning

Do No Harm: The Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics
Resources from the Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, a group opposed to human embryonic stem cell research.

Human Cloning: Scientific, Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research
The report of the inquiry into the scientific, ethical and regulatory aspects of human cloning and stem cell research was tabled in the House of Representatives on 20 September 2001.

The President's Council on Bioethics: Cloning Index
Links to reports and transcripts.

The President's Council on Bioethics: Stem Cells Index
Links to reports and transcripts.

Research Ethics and Stem Cells [Stem Cell Information]
The Official National Institutes of Health resource for stem cell research.

Stem Cell Research & Applications: Scientific, Ethical, and Policy Issues.
Resources from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Stem Cells -- Ethics, Research, and Regulation
From EthicsWeb, a collection of ethics-related websites, run by philosopher-ethicist Chris MacDonald.

Euthanasia, and Assisited Suicide

The American Geriatrics Society - Physician Assisted Suicide
A position statement from the American Geriatrics Society.

BMA - End of life issues
Resources from the British Medical Associaton.

eMJA: "Death talk": debating euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in Australia
By Margaret A Somerville.
Medical Journal of Australia 2003 178 (4): 171-174

Euthanasia suicide mercy-killing right-to-die physician assisted suicide living wills research
From Euthanasia.com - an organisation opposed to euthanasia.

Fact Sheets - SAVES
SAVES is the South Australin Voluntary Euthanasia Society.

Should Assisted Suicide Be Only Physician Assisted?
By Kathy Faber-Langendoen, and Jason H.T. Karlawish.
Annals of Internal Medicine March 21 2000, 132(6): 482-487

When Death is Sought - New York State Department of Health
When Death is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medlical Context. A report published in may 1994, by the New York State Task Force on Life anfd the Law.

General Bioethics Sites

Bioethics Resources on the Web - National Institutes of Health
From the National Institutes of Health in the United States, an extensive and well organised collection.

Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice
Bernard Lo and Marilyn J. Field, Editors; Committee on Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice; Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National Academies Press, 2009.

Consent
From the Department of health in the U.K. These pages make available the full text of publications on consent being produced with the assistance of the Good Practice in Consent Advisory Group.

Health Report - Ethics
Transcripts from Radio National's Health Report, with Norman Swan.

National Health and Medical Research Council - Ethics in Research - Animal publications

National Health and Medical Research Council - Ethics in Research - Human publications

The President's Council on Bioethics: Human Dignity and Bioethics: Essays Commissioned by the President's Council on Bioethics
A series of essays published in March 2008.

Research With Animals in Psychology.
From the Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association.

Scientific and Medical Aspects of Human Reproductive Cloning
Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, Policy and Global Affairs Division, Board on Life Sciences, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council. Copyright 2002, National Academy of Sciences. This document may be reproduced solely for educational purposes without the written permission of the National Academy of Sciences.

Society's Choices: Social and Ethical Decision Making in Biomedicine
Ruth Ellen Bulger, Elizabeth Meyer Bobby, and Harvey V. Fineberg, Editors; Committee on the Social and Ethical Impacts of Developments in Biomedicine, Institute of Medicine. Washington D.C., National Academy Press, 1995.

War Child Projects
Describes the projects of the War Child organisation, which is devoted to alleviating the suffering of children in the world's war zones.

World Medical Association. Medical Ethics Manual
2nd ed. 2009. This Manual is a publication of the Ethics Unit of the World Medical Association. It was written by John R. Williams.