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"This volume recognizes and addresses the health care issues of prisoners, to establish best practices and to learn about approaches to these challenges from around the world. It presents new evidence on several emerging and classical prison health issues. The first goal of this volume is to address emerging issues related to health in prison. Second, it presents the most recent research-based evidence and translates it to the practice. The third goal, is that it allows for sufficient diversity while also incorporating updates of some important already recognized prison health. The volume discusses prisons and the life and well-being of prisoners and staff, after growing problems as drug misuse (incl. tobacco smoking), infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, STIs and TB), psychiatric problems, inadequate and unhealthy living conditions (incl. nutrition), overcrowding of prisons. These are addressed adequately in order to meet the international requirements of equivalence of health care. The scope of this volume is at the same type specific and diverse enough to cover the interests of a large audience that includes many types of practitioners involved in health-related issues in the field of prison health care, such as psychologists, nurses and prison administration officers responsible for health care, legal professionals and social workers"--Provided by publisher.

Recent advances in military-funded neurotechnology and novel opportunities for misusing neurodevices show that the problem of dual use is inherent to neuroscience. This paper discusses how the neuroscience community should respond to these dilemmas and delineates a neuroscience-specific biosecurity framework. This neurosecurity framework involves calibrated regulation, (neuro)ethical guidelines, and awareness-raising activities within the scientific community.

Molecular Systems Engineering (MSE) is a paradigm shift in both engineering and life sciences. While the field is still in its infancy the perspectives of MSE in revolutionising technology is promising. MSE will offer a wide range of applications in clinical, biotechnological and engineering fields while simultaneously posing serious questions on the ethical and societal aspects of such technology. The moral and societal aspects of MSE need systematic investigation from scientific and social perspectives. In a democratic setting, the societal outcomes of MSE's cutting-edge technology need to be consulted and influenced by society itself. For this purpose MSE needs inclusive public engagement strategies that bring together the public, ethicists, scientists and policy makers for optimum flow of information that maximizes the impact of public engagement. In this report we present an MSE consortium and its ethics framework for establishing a proactive approach in the study of the ethics of MSE technology.

The volume aims to capture a European gist of theoretical sensibilities, conceptual resources, and research interests, but not in an adversarial way, as opposed to American bioethics. The volume gathers contributions from European scholars as they collaborate and form a research network, drawing on a diversity of philosophical traditions and local knowledge, with the aim of debating universal bioethical problems.

Ensuring the protection of privacy and the compliance with data protection rules have become central issues for researchers active in the biomedical field. Data protection law is often perceived as very complex and difficult to interpret, which can hinder the efficacious planning and implementation of new research projects. Indeed, the sophisticated legal architecture that governs data processing activities in general and biomedical research in particular might feel overwhelming for both legal practitioners and researchers. The objective of this article is to review the interaction of data protection law and biomedical research with a predominant focus on the Swiss context. In order to facilitate a better understanding of this issue, we discuss three crucial nodes that shape the interplay of law and data processing in research First, we explore the meaning of "personal" data, the requirements to classify data as "personal", "non-personal", "pseudonymised" or "anonymised" and the implications of such classifications from a legal perspective. We then consider the relationship between sector-specific data processing regulations for research and other laws on data protection. Finally, we examine the role of consent for data processing in the research field and its significance from a data protection perspective. In conclusion, this review underlines the importance of fostering reciprocal collaboration of data protection experts and biomedical researchers to facilitate the development of new projects in the future.

On the 1st of January 2012, Switzerland introduced the diagnosis-related group hospital tariff structure (SwissDRG). It was recognised that healthcare provided to the most vulnerable patient groups would be a challenge for the new SwissDRG. Coincident with the implementation of SwissDRG, we explored hospital experts' perceptions of which patient groups are vulnerable under the SwissDRG system, what has changed for this group, as well as solutions to ensure adequate access to health care for them. We interviewed 43 experts from 40 Swiss hospitals. Participating experts named several vulnerable patient groups who share some common characteristics. These hospital experts were concerned about the patient groups that are not financially profitable and questioned the practicability of the current regulation. At the same time, they highlighted the complexity associated with caring for this group under the new SwissDRG and reported measures at the macro, meso, and micro levels to protect vulnerable patient groups from negative effects. To curb negative outcomes for vulnerable patient groups after the introduction of the SwissDRG, the Swiss legislation has introduced various instruments including the acute and transitional care (ATC) measures. We conclude that ATC measures do not produce the expected effect the legislators had hoped for. More health data is needed to identify situations where vulnerable patient groups are more susceptible to inadequate health care access in Switzerland.

Early release of seriously ill and elderly prisoners is possible in several countries, but only few prisoners gain such exemption. We identified hurdles to the implementation of early release laws in Europe by analyzing legal requirements for such release and with 40 stakeholder qualitative interviews. Provisions are based on prisoners' health status and the ability to care for them in prison. Interviews revealed three barriers: practical hurdles, penological goals, and multiple interests. Finally, early release is obstructed because three justifications are often confounded: compassion, the principle of equivalence, and practical concerns, such as costs and overcrowding.