Joseph J. Fins, M.D., chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and a Hastings Center board member, was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies on October 11. Membership in the Institute of Medicine is among the highest honors given t...

Project launched in June 2005 Principal Investigator: Thomas H. Murray

Project launched in January 2008 Principal Investigator: Mary Crowley

Framing the Issue Clinicians seek to provide health care that is tailored to the individual, and patients wish to receive such care. Choices about medications, surgery, prevention, and other medical interventions ideally take into account the unique circumstances and preferences of each patient. The ...

Framing the Issue In November 1999, the Institute of Medicine released a report titled To Err Is Human that made front-page news. It revealed that 44,000 to 98,000 patients were dying each year in the United States due to medical errors. Deaths from medical error were exceeding deaths from breast can...

[This briefing adapted from “Influenza Pandemic,” by Alexandra Minna Stern and Howard Markel, in From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns]

Framing the Issue Traditionally, academic biomedical research institutions and for-profit companies have had different missions. Academic institutions have focused on teaching, research, and public service, whereas companies have focused on generating revenue through commercial activities. But the di...

Framing the Issue Most cloning—the process of making an exact genetic replica of a cell, a tissue, or an organism—happens naturally. When the fertilized egg first divides, occasionally each daughter cell goes on to form separate embryos. The result: identical twins, each one a clone of the other....

Framing the Issue Clinical research with human participants utilizes a systematic approach to help understand human health and illness in order to find safe and effective ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease. Most clinical research in the United States is sponsored by pharmaceutical or biotec...

I arrived at The Hastings Center for my first tour of duty in the fall of 1979, and it did not take long to realize that the Center was working on matters vitally important to everyone. Some issues, like genetic testing or the ethics of performance enhancing drugs in sports, required peering over the...