Should doctors, nurses deceive patients? Takeaways on human genome editing today. ChatGPT in medicine.
March 16, 2023
Should Clinicians Ever Deceive Patients? Sometimes, Yes.
“I don’t know if it’s ethical, but . . .” said a nurse before she proposed giving a placebo to a patient who had asked for his opioid dose to be increased—and who could not comprehend the harms he would suffer if his request was met. This is one of several situations in which doctors and nurses wondered whether it would be ethical to deceive or even lie to patients or their family members, discussed in the latest Hastings Center Report. The lead article proposes a framework to help clinicians figure out the degree to which a deception could be ethically justified: Read more.
Triumphs & Gaps at Human Genome Editing Summit Leading Bioethicists Discuss Takeaways
At the just-concluded summit on human genome editing, the scandal of China’s CRISPR babies was fresh in the minds of many. But there was exciting news about research on gene editing therapies for treating serious illnesses. Two bioethicists who attended the summit—Françoise Baylis and Ben Hurlbut—spoke with Hastings Center senior research scholar Josephine Johnston about the encouraging experimental use of gene editing to treat sickle cell disease, and they also highlighted the gaps in attention to ethical issues, such as how “million-dollar” gene editing therapies can be made available to people who need them. Watch the discussion.
Chinese Bioethics After the CRISPR Scandal; ChatGPT in Medicine From Hastings Bioethics Forum
“Is Chinese Bioethics Ready to Move Forward from the CRISPR Baby Scandal?” To what extent has China’s bioethics community addressed gaps exposed by the CRISPR Baby scandal and prepared to prevent further human gene editing research misconduct? Bioethicists Joy Y. Zhang, who spoke at the International Human Genome Editing Summit last week, and Ruipeng Lei, a Hastings Center fellow, assess what China’s government and bioethicists have done and the considerable work that remains. Read the essay.
“ChatGPT in the Clinic? Medical AI Needs Ethicists.” Sophisticated chatbots powered by programs such as ChatGPT have brought us closer to the possibility of AI becoming a primary source in providing medical diagnoses and treatment plans. The insight of ethicists is sorely needed, writes Emma Bedor Hiland. Read the essay.
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