Suchergebnisse

On 9 August 1994 the German legislature revised the German Drug Law (AMG). Included in the revision is a passage requiring, for the first time, that the sponsors and investigators of clinical studies involving human subjects first obtain the approval of an ethics committee before carrying out such studies. According to the legislation, which takes effect on 17 August 1995, approval is to come from 'an independent ethics committee, set up and administered according to state law [emphasis added]' (1). Although it is clear according to the text that the 16 federal states have been empowered to establish ethics committees within their jurisdictions, this does not mean that the state governments are free to transfer exclusive authority in the matter to their respective medical associations, a step that would effectively abolish Germany's private ethics committees. First, the legislation does not rule out the authorization of private ethics committees. Second, as legal scholars attest, the exclusive control of ethics committees by the medical associations would constitute an illegal monopoly. Third, it is arguable that medical-association ethics committees fail to meet the one prior federal requirement, that of independence. There is a great deal of confusion in Germany today about which kinds of ethics committees (public and/or private) the states will sanction before 17 August 1995. In an attempt to sort things out we present a brief explanation of how ther came to be two kinds of ethics committees in Germany, review the legal battle between the two over the issue of authorization, point out how the German legislature, in passing the recent bill, has missed an opportunity to clarify the issue and, finally suggest why the administration of ethics committees by the medical associations may be incompatible with the requirement that ethics committees be independent.

From the introduction: Our age can lay claim to a unique moral chaos. Modernity badgers us with perplexing moral questions: Can good ethics and good business ever coincide? Should medical science do all the things that it now can do? Is truth-telling always a virtue? If it is, how can one maintain professional or personal confidentiality? Is honesty always the best policy? What are the proper criteria for the journalistic media when it comes to reporting the real news and avoiding sensationalism? Should there be an "ethics committee" in government, in business, in hospitals, in law firms, or in financial centers? How would an ethics committee function in such places? ; https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/fac_book/1000/thumbnail.jpg

Increasing European co-operation must take place in many areas, including medical ethics. Against the background of common cultural norms and pluralistic variation within political traditions, religion and lifestyles, Europe will have to converge towards unity within the field of medical ethics. This article examines how such convergence might develop with respect to four major areas: European research ethics committees, democratic health systems, the human genome project and rules for stopping futile treatments.

Intro -- Contents -- Cases -- 1. Moral Dilemmas and Ethical Inquiry -- 1. Moral dilemmas in nursing -- 2. Ethical codes: uses and limitations -- 3. The fundamental question of morality -- 4. Ethical inquiry -- 5. Ethical autonomy and institutional-hierarchical constraints -- 2. Unavoidable Topics in Ethical Theory -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Basic ethical principles -- 3. Knowledge in ethics -- 4. Ethics, law, and religion -- 3. Nurses and Clients -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Parentalism -- 3. Deception -- 4. Confidentiality -- 5. Personal risks and professional obligations -- 6. Conflicting claims -- 4. Recurring Ethical Issues in Nurse-Physician Relationships -- 1. Conflicts between nurse and physician -- 2. Nurse autonomy -- 3. Collaboration -- 4. Integrity-preserving compromise -- 5. Conscientious refusal -- 6. Determining responsibility -- 5. Ethical Dilemmas Among Nurses -- 1. Tensions between nurses -- 2. Respect for persons -- 3. Professional obligations -- 4. Administrative dilemmas -- 6. Personal Responsibility for Institutional and Public Policy -- 1. The scope of individual responsibility -- 2. Institutional policies and strikes -- 3. Institutional ethics committees -- 4. Blowing the whistle -- 5. Public policy: advance directives -- 6. Putting it all together -- 7. Cost Containment, Justice, and Rationing -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Cost containment and the claims of justice -- 3. Access to care -- 4. The concept of rationing -- 5. The Oregon proposal -- 6. Toward ethical rationing -- 7. Rationing and the importance of nursing care -- 8. The expanding scope of nursing ethics -- APPENDIX A: International Council of Nurses Code for Nurses -- APPENDIX B: American Nurses' Association Code for Nurses -- APPENDIX C: American Hospital Association: A Patient's Bill of Rights -- APPENDIX D: Cases for Analysis -- Suggestions for Further Reading -- Index.

More members of Congress have been investigated and sanctioned for ethical misconduct in the past decade and a half than in the entire previous history of the institution. But individual members are probably less corrupt than they once were. Stricter ethics codes and closer scrutiny by the press and public have imposed standards no previous representatives have had to face. Dennis Thompson shows how the institution itself is posing new ethical challenges, how the complexity of the environment in which members work creates new occasions for corruption and invites more calls for accountability. Instead of the individual corruption that has long been the center of attention, Thompson focuses on institutional corruption which refers to conduct that under certain conditions is an acceptable part of the job of a representative. Members are required to solicit campaign contributions, and they are expected to help constituents with their problems with government, but some ways of doing these jobs give rise to institutional corruption. The author moves the discussion beyond bribery, extortion, and simple personal gain to delve into implicit understandings, ambiguous favors, and political advantage. Thompson examines many major ethics cases of recent years. Among them: the case of David Durenberger, accused of supplementing his income through book promotions; the case of the Keating Five, accused of using undue influence with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board on behalf of Lincoln Savings and Loan owner Charles Keating; and the case of House Speaker James Wright, accused of several offenses. Thompson shows why neither the electoral process nor the judicial process is sufficient and argues for stronger ethics committees and the creation of a new quasi-independent body to take over some of the enforcement process. He offers more than a dozen recommendations