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The Hastings Center Bioethics Timeline
“Bioethics” has been defined in several different ways. Most broadly, it is the interdisciplinary study of ethical, legal, and social issues arising in the life sciences and health care. Though...From Bioethics Briefings
Why a Bioethics Briefing Book?
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...Page
Fellows
Hastings Center Fellows are elected individuals whose work has informed scholarship and public understanding of complex ethical issues in health, health care, life sciences research, and the environment. They are...Page
From Assisted Reproduction to Stem Cells: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book
Project launched in January 2008 Principal Investigator: Mary Crowley Funders: The Greenwall Foundation and The Lounsbery Foundation Purpose To provide campaigns, journalists, and policymakers with a ready reference on about three dozen issues in...Read “From Assisted Reproduction to Stem Cells: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Competing Commitments in Clinical Trials
Scholars of the ethics of clinical trials have long recognized a tension between the therapeutic obligations1 of clinicians (physician, nurses, and other health professionals) and the scientific demands of clinical...Page
Covid-19 Update: Essential Resources on Immigrant Health
Updated December 12, 2020 The novel coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of low-wage immigrants to viral infection and severe Covid-19 illness. This public health emergency compounds the social (non-medical)...Read “Covid-19 Update: Essential Resources on Immigrant Health”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
When Is It Ethical to Withhold a Research Incentive?
Researchers want to conduct an online survey to determine respondents’ attitudes toward and concerns about uses of deidentified tissue in research biobanks to see whether their concerns affect their willingness...Page
Ethical Challenges in the Middle Tier of Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation: Guidance for Organizational Decision-Making
Download PDF Nancy Berlinger, PhD; Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH; Tia Powell, MD; Aimee Milliken, RN, PhD, HEC-C; Parinda Khatri, PhD; Fatma Marouf, JD, MPH; Keisha Ray, PhD; Johanna Crane, PhD...Page
Anti-Ableist Medical Education: Meeting the Challenges
Hastings Center Issue Brief [download] Liz Bowen, Emily Cleveland-Manchanda, Peppar E.P. Cyr, Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Susan Havercamp, Kristi Kirschner, Rebecca Kronk, Lisa M. Meeks, Peter Poullos, Zoie Clarise Sheets, Dorothy W....Read “Anti-Ableist Medical Education: Meeting the Challenges”
COVID-19 RESOURCES
Ethics Guidance and Resources on Covid-19
As communities across the world work to navigate the pandemic, The Hastings Center has assembled ethics resources for responding to novel coronavirus Covid-19. We are updating this hub throughout the...Hastings Center News
Ethics Guidance and Resources on Covid-19
As communities across the world work to navigate the pandemic, The Hastings Center has assembled ethics resources for responding to novel coronavirus Covid-19. We are updating this hub throughout the...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10.12.10 Joseph J. Fins Elected to Institute of Medicine of the National Academies
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...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Money, Coercion, and Undue Inducement: Attitudes about Payments to Research Participants
Researchers nearly always offer money to healthy individuals—and increasingly to individuals who are ill—as an incentive to enroll in research studies and as compensation for research participation.1Yet there is a...Read “Money, Coercion, and Undue Inducement: Attitudes about Payments to Research Participants”
COVID-19
Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions & Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic
Managing Uncertainty, Safeguarding Communities, Guiding Practice Download as PDF Nancy Berlinger, PhD; Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH; Tia Powell, MD; D. Micah Hester, PhD; Aimee Milliken, RN, PhD, HEC-C; Rachel Fabi,...From Bioethics Briefings
Pandemics: The Ethics of Mandatory and Voluntary Interventions
[This chapter is 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...Read “Pandemics: The Ethics of Mandatory and Voluntary Interventions”
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Genomic Findings on Human Behavior and Social Outcomes: FAQs
CONTENTS Genomic Studies of Educational Traits & Outcomes Genomic Studies of Social and Environmental Factors Genomic Studies of Psychological and Psychiatric Behaviors Genomic Studies of Sexual Behaviors Polygenic Embryo Selection...Read “Genomic Findings on Human Behavior and Social Outcomes: FAQs”
From Bioethics Briefings
Enhancing Humans
Framing the Issue When Guttenberg invented the printing press, making the written word accessible to the masses, he could have hardly envisioned today’s world where the entirety of human knowledge...Page
Terms of Use
This Website (“Website”) is an online information and communications service provided by The Hastings Center (“The Center,” “we” or “our”). Please carefully read the following Terms of Use before using...Bioethics Forum Essay
Immigrant Health in the Public Charge Era: 15 Essential Articles
The public charge rule went into effect nationwide yesterday, formalizing the “public charge era” that began when the draft rule was leaked three years ago. The rule jeopardizes eligibility for legal permanent residency if applicants are deemed public charges based on even short-term use of federally funded programs, such as health insurance, housing subsidies, or food stamps. Anticipation of the rule has had chilling effects on the behavior of immigrants, who have avoided or withdrawn from health-related programs for which they are eligible. What follows is a selected bibliography designed to support learning and progress on immigrant health in a complex policy environment.Read “Immigrant Health in the Public Charge Era: 15 Essential Articles”
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Access to Therapeutic and Palliative Drugs in the Context of Covid-19: Justice and the Relief of Suffering
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Resources
Our Mission–www.thehastingscenter.org/who-we-are/our-mission Our Publications-www.thehastingscenter.org/publications-resources Bioethics Timeline–www.thehastingscenter.org/bioethics-timeline/ Donate–https://www.thehastingscenter.org/support-our-work/online-giving/ Planned giving–https://www.thehastingscenter.org/make-a-gift/gift-planning/ LinkedIn–www.linkedin.com/company/the-hastings-center/ Facebook–www.facebook.com/hastingscenter/ Instagram–www.instagram.com/thehastingscenter/?hl=en Bluesky–www.bsky.app/profile/hastingscenter.bsky.social X–www.x.com/hastingscenter Threads–www.threads.net/@thehastingscenterFrom Bioethics Briefings
Clinical Trials
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,...Page
Ethics, Genetics, and the Future of Sport: The Implications of Genetic Modification and Genetic Selection
Project launched in June 2005 Principal Investigator: Thomas H. Murray Funder: United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Purpose The project had four basic aims: Develop a realistic assessment of the likely time horizon...Bioethics Forum Essay
Freedom’s Just Another Word for . . . Restriction?
What tools does a university administration have at its disposal to shut up critics on its own faculty? The University of Minnesota wants to know. The university’s administration is exploring...Bioethics Forum Essay
Canada Confronts its Own “Tuskegee” Studies
Last summer’s revelations that malnourished Aboriginals in Canada served as unwitting and unprotected subjects in nutritional experiments in the 1940s and 1950s brought a sharp reaction–though the research took place...Bioethics Forum Essay
Nationalizing IRBs for Biomedical Research – and for Justice
I know that when my medical school sends us all an announcement that we’ve broken a record for funded research, I’m supposed to be happy. Wrong week for that. Shortly...Read “Nationalizing IRBs for Biomedical Research – and for Justice”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Warp Speed Bioethics
It takes less time than ever to publish papers. But is quality sacrificed by doing bioethics at warp speed, especially during the Covid pandemic?COVID-19
Responding to Covid-19 as a Regional Public Health Challenge: Preliminary Guidelines for Regional Collaboration Involving Hospitals
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How Should the Public Learn?
Principal Investigators: Bruce Jennings, Gregory Kaebnick, Mildred Solomon Co-Investigators: Michael Gusmano, Carolyn P. Neuhaus Funder: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Democracy requires the capacity to receive information through...Page
Online Giving
Please support our work. Founded over 50 years ago, The Hastings Center is the only independent bioethics research institute in the nation. That status—and our ability to identify key challenges,...Page
Online Giving
Please support our work. Founded over 50 years ago, The Hastings Center for Bioethics is the only independent bioethics research institute in the nation. That status—and our ability to identify...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Broad Data Sharing in Genetic Research: Views of Institutional Review Board Professionals
Institutional review boards (IRBs) play a key role in ensuring that genetic research with humans meets ethical and regulatory standards. They are involved with issues such as how research participants...Read “Broad Data Sharing in Genetic Research: Views of Institutional Review Board Professionals”
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AHA and ABIMF join as sponsors of “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities”
The American Hospital Association and the ABIM Foundation join with the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association as sponsors of January’s national summit on health equity, convened by...Read “AHA and ABIMF join as sponsors of “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities””
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Covid-19 Ethical Framework and Supplements
Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions Responding to Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19); Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to Covid-19:March 16, 2020An ethically sound framework for health care during public...Page
Covid-19 Ethical Framework and Supplements
Ethical Framework for Health Care Institutions Responding to Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19); Guidelines for Institutional Ethics Services Responding to Covid-19, March 16, 2020, https://www.thehastingscenter.org/ethicalframeworkcovid19/. Responding to Covid-19 as a Regional...Page
Job Announcement: Research Scholar
Description: This position offers a superb opportunity for an early career, mid-career, or established scholar to devote themselves to research and public outreach on questions of national and international significance....Page
The Hastings Center Beneficence Society
Credited by many as having founded the field of bioethics, The Hastings Center for Bioethics has invested more than 50 years addressing complex challenges at the intersection of health, science, and technology—including issues...Bioethics Forum Essay
Hastings, Botswana, and Edinburgh: Bioethics Meets Detective Fiction
In the bioethics world, all roads eventually lead to Hastings, whether that means the Center in Garrison, N.Y., or Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., where the Center was born in 1969 and lived...Read “Hastings, Botswana, and Edinburgh: Bioethics Meets Detective Fiction”
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ANA and AMA join AAMC and The Hastings Center as sponsors of “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities”
NEW YORK/SILVER SPRING/CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 9 – The American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association join The Hastings Center, a global ethics leader, and the Association of American Medical Colleges Center...COVID-19
Ethics Resources for Conducting Research in Public Health Emergencies
Read “Ethics Resources for Conducting Research in Public Health Emergencies”
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Ethics and the End of Life
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: End of Life Care The central philosophical question in end-of-life care is how to make decisions surrounding the numerous choices about what...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Genomic Research with Organs and Tissues Originating from Transplant Donors: Ethical Considerations for the GTEx Project
Human biospecimens are essential to uncovering the basis of human health and disease. Each year, millions of biospecimens are collected from both living and deceased donors for a variety of...Bioethics Forum Essay
Vaccinated and Still Isolated: The Ethics of Overprotecting Nursing Home Residents
The pandemic is not over, but light is beginning to crest the horizon. Vaccination rates, especially among older adults and their caregivers, are rising. As we begin to relax physical...Read “Vaccinated and Still Isolated: The Ethics of Overprotecting Nursing Home Residents”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Implementing Single IRB Review of Multisite Research: Lessons Learned from the National Children’s Study
Abstract: In keeping with recent regulatory and policy requirements, a large proportion of multisite studies will be using a single institutional review board (IRB) of record. Further research is needed...Page
Hastings Center Report Press Kit
Latest Issue Access content from the latest issue and archives here. Editors Gregory E. Kaebnick, Editor kaebnickg@thehastingscenter.org 845-424-4040, ext. 227 Laura Haupt, Managing Editor hauptl@thehastingscenter.org 845-424-4040, ext. 212 Nora Porter, Art Director portern@thehastingscenter.org...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 2-7-13 Hastings Center Resources Chart Progress in Debate over Medical Research with Animals
(Garrison, NY) The scientific and ethical debate over the use of animals in medical research has raged for years, but perspectives are shifting, viewpoints are becoming more nuanced, and new...Page
Ethics & Human Research Press Kit
Latest Issue Access content from the latest issue here. Editors Karen J. Maschke, Editor maschkek@thehastingscenter.org Julie Chibbaro, Managing Editor hauptl@thehastingscenter.org Nora Porter, Art Director, Assistant Editor portern@thehastingscenter.org About the Journal Ethics...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 02.15.11 Welcome Back to the Expanded Health Care Cost Monitor Blog
(Garrison, NY) The Hastings Center has relaunched the Health Care Cost Monitor and expanded its scope. Originally created to fill a void by focusing on health care costs as a component of...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 02.15.11 Welcome Back to the Expanded Health Care Cost Monitor Blog”
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Ways To Give
Advances in health, science, and technology raise profound ethical questions. Facts alone will not provide answers. Today more than ever, we need to identify the values at stake, listen to...Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 02.21.12 Role Reversal – Bioethicist interviews reporter on end of life
(Garrison, NY) Daniel Callahan, bioethicist and cofounder of the Hastings Center, has not only written about end-of-life issues for more than 40 years, he has also been interviewed by countless...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 02.21.12 Role Reversal – Bioethicist interviews reporter on end of life”
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Ethics and Public Health
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Public Health Ethics and Law Public health encompasses what society does to assure the conditions that are necessary for its members to...Page
Hastings Center Report Submission Guidelines
General Manuscript Submission and Review The Hastings Center Report takes a broad understanding of bioethics. We welcome manuscript submissions that address social and ethical issues in health care, the life sciences, and...Hastings Center News
TRANSCRIPT – Breakthrough or Breakdown: Should the FDA Have Approved the New Alzheimer’s Drug?
[Transcript created by voice recognition] Danielle Pacia, The Hastings Center Hello and welcome to Breakthrough or Breakdown. Should the FDA have approved the new Alzheimer’s drug, a Hastings Center conversation?...HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
Responding to COVID-19: How to Navigate a Public Health Emergency Legally and Ethically
Lawrence O. Gostin, Eric A. Friedman, and Sarah A. Wetter [This article appears in the Hastings Center Report, March-April 2020] Few novel or emerging infectious diseases have posed such vital...Read “Responding to COVID-19: How to Navigate a Public Health Emergency Legally and Ethically”
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Ethics and Clinical Trials
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Clinical Trials Clinical trials are specifically designed to test the safety and efficacy of interventions in humans and are preceded by laboratory...Hastings Center News
Caste Author Isabel Wilkerson to Keynote National Forum, “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities.”
The Hastings Center and the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Health Justice Announce Two-Day Summit on Health Equity. SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 — The Hastings Center, a global ethics...Page
Writers’ Guidelines for Clinical Ethics Cases for Hastings Bioethics Forum
The purpose of this series is to illustrate how clinical ethicists analyze, process, and address complex cases. The primary author of each essay should be a clinical ethicist (individual, team,...Read “Writers’ Guidelines for Clinical Ethics Cases for Hastings Bioethics Forum”
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Caste Author Isabel Wilkerson to Keynote National Forum, “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities.”
The Hastings Center and the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Health Justice Announce Two-Day Summit on Health Equity. SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 — The Hastings Center, a global ethics...Bioethics Forum Essay
Two Cheers for Choosing Wisely
The Choosing Wisely campaign is one of the most exciting experiments in health care in quite a while. If it lives up to its potential, Choosing Wisely could prevent some of the...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Research Ethics Committees in Nigeria: A Survey of Operations, Functions, and Needs
Heightened global commitment to research on diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria has led to increased research over the past decade in many African countries, including Nigeria. This increase...Read “Research Ethics Committees in Nigeria: A Survey of Operations, Functions, and Needs”
Our Team
Lin Tarrant
Lin Tarrant joined the Hastings Center in 2008. She has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 25 years including Direct Mail Manager at Guiding Eyes for the Blind and...Page
Gift Planning
Philanthropy typically accounts for 45% of The Hastings Center for Bioethics’ annual revenue. Popular ways to give include Cash, Check, Securities, DAFs, or IRAs. However, gift planning (sometimes referred to...Page
Welcome to Hastings on the Hill
Inaugural Topic: Health AI AI is changing the landscape of health care delivery and biomedical research. It carries great promise but also generates deep ethical and social concerns. Bioethics, the...Page
Privacy Policy
Updated March 2024 The Hastings Center is dedicated to service in the field of bioethics. A key component of that service is an unwavering commitment to privacy. For over 50...Page
Press Release: Hastings Fellow Alondra Nelson Named to Key Role
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Susan Gilbert For Immediate Release 1-845-424-4040, ext. 244 communications@thehastingscenter.org Hastings Fellow Alondra Nelson Named to Key Role NEW YORK, February 22 –Alondra Nelson, a Hastings Center Fellow,...Read “Press Release: Hastings Fellow Alondra Nelson Named to Key Role”
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Press Release: Health Equity, Racism, and This Moment in Time
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Susan Gilbert For Immediate Release 1-845-424-4040, ext. 244 gilberts@thehastingscenter.org Health Equity, Racism, and This Moment in TimeHastings Center online event next week The...Read “Press Release: Health Equity, Racism, and This Moment in Time”
COVID-19
COVID-19: Supporting Ethical Care and Responding to Moral Distress in a Public Health Emergency
Gene Editing & Human Flourishing
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the goals of the program? Secondary school educators will complete the program with greater comfort identifying the ethical issues present in the genetic topics they teach, and prepared...Page
Programs for Students and Visiting Scholars
The Hastings Center offers several programs for students and visiting scholars. For more information about any of these programs, please contact programs@thehastingscenter.org. Please include the name of the program of...Page
Request for Proposals from Fundraising Consultants
The Hastings Center invites proposals from fundraising consultants experienced in leading feasibility studies and strategically planning and advising nonprofit organizations in conducting endowment-focused campaigns. Fundraising consultants who identify as members...Page
FAQs on Human Genomic Studies Submission Guidelines
This guide helps authors submitting materials to “FAQs on Human Genomic Studies” and outlines basic criteria for inclusion in the repository. Have a question? Contact the editorial team via genomicsfaq@thehastingscenter.org...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10.24.12 Survival of the Affordable Care Act Assessed in New Commentaries
(Garrison, NY) As the presidential candidates clash over the fate of the Affordable Care Act, a set of seven essays by leading legal experts, economists, and scholars examines the implications...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10.24.12 Survival of the Affordable Care Act Assessed in New Commentaries”
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Ethics & Human Research Submission Guidelines
Aims & Scope Ethics & Human Research (formerly IRB: Ethics & Human Research) aims to foster critical analysis of issues in science and health care that have implications for human...Page
Press Release: Omenn & Darling Gift to Bolster Trust in Scientific Innovation
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Susan Gilbert For Immediate Release 1-845-424-4040, ext. 244 communications@thehastingscenter.org Omenn & Darling gift to bolster trust in scientific innovation February 19, 2021. Preeminent science researcher and science...Read “Press Release: Omenn & Darling Gift to Bolster Trust in Scientific Innovation”
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New Guidance for Middle-Tier Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation Focuses on Equity and Effectiveness in Reaching High-Risk Populations
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Susan Gilbert For Immediate Release 1-845-424-4040, ext. 244 communications@thehastingscenter.org New Guidance for Middle-Tier Covid-19 Vaccine Allocation Focuses on Equity and Effectiveness in Reaching High-Risk Populations Ethical Considerations...Page
Report Finds Breakdown in Civic Discourse Threatens U.S. Democracy
PRESS RELEASE Contact: Susan Gilbert For Immediate Release 1-845-424-4040, ext. 244 communications@thehastingscenter.org NEW YORK, February 25 – A new report released by The Hastings Center, the leading bioethics research institute,...Read “Report Finds Breakdown in Civic Discourse Threatens U.S. Democracy”
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PRESS RELEASE: 03.12.12 The Hastings Center Names Mildred Z. Solomon Next President
(Garrison, NY) The Board of Directors of The Hastings Center announced today that Dr. Mildred Z. Solomon, Senior Director for Implementation Science at the Association of American Medical Colleges and...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 03.12.12 The Hastings Center Names Mildred Z. Solomon Next President”
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Job Announcement: Project Manager-Research Assistant
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PRESS RELEASE 10-01-2018: Announcing Ethics & Human Research
The Hastings Center is announcing an exciting new direction for its journal on research ethics. Beginning with the January-February 2019 issue, the Center will launch Ethics & Human Research (E&HR), a...Read “PRESS RELEASE 10-01-2018: Announcing Ethics & Human Research”
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Bioethics for Aging Societies
For decades, bioethics scholarship, empirical research, and recommendations concerning older adults has focused on decisions and care in patients nearing the end of life. Until recently, bioethics work on aging...Page
Advancing Housing & Health Equity for Older Adults
The Covid-19 RECAPP Report: Advancing Housing & Health Equity for Older Adults: Pandemic Innovations and Policy Ideas Report Summary and Recommendations This grant-funded collaborative research led by Nancy Berlinger of The...Bioethics Forum Essay
Addyi Rises Again
Addyi, a drug that made a splash when it was approved in the summer of 2015 as the first “female Viagra,” is back. Its rise, fall, and rise again is...Bioethics Forum Essay
On Naming Names
No names will be named in this essay. Which I guess makes it philosophy. Technically I am trained to do philosophy. I got my masters and my Ph.D. in a...Bioethics Forum Essay
Using the Pandemic as an Excuse to Limit Abortion
Several states, including Ohio, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma, declared abortion a nonessential service at some point during the pandemic, meaning that it was effectively banned until the crisis passed. Supporters of the policies maintain that abortion is an elective procedure whose medical resources are better off used in the fight against the pandemic. But abortion opponents have been taking advantage of the current circumstances to limit abortion access.Bioethics Forum Essay
Diving Deeper into Amazon Alexa’s HIPAA Compliance
Amazon.com made waves in health care when it announced that its Alexa Skills Kit, a suite of tools for building voice programs, would be HIPAA compliant. Using the Alexa Skills Kit, companies could build voice experiences for Amazon Echo devices that communicate personal health information with patients. Alexa’s various roles in health care stand to confuse (or potentially exploit) users.Bioethics Forum Essay
Committing to Fight Racism
We have reached a very sad, painful moment in the United States. It feels like a cascade of calamities, one compounding the next. An infectious disease pandemic that we cannot yet cure has precipitated an economic crisis. An episode of police brutality against a black man has added the name George Floyd to a long list of victims of unfair policing practices in black communities. Bioethicists have not been doing enough in our professional capacities to actively denounce or address the persistent problems of structural racism. We invite our fellow bioethics colleagues to join us in candid, uncomfortable conversations about what we can and should be doing differently.Bioethics Forum Essay
Bloomberg’s Health Legacy: What Inflames Consumer Passions in the Food Wars?
After the Hastings Center Report published my essay on Mayor Bloomberg’s health legacy — with its key ideas spread through the popular media (here and here) — vitriolic messages streamed...Read “Bloomberg’s Health Legacy: What Inflames Consumer Passions in the Food Wars?”
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Universities of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg
Giving a Voice to African Thought in Medical Research Ethics 3 – 5 December 2015 Boardroom, Phillip V Tobias Health Sciences Building,University of the Witwatersrand Corner of York and St...Bioethics Forum Essay
Bioethics, Nazi Analogies, and the Coronavirus Pandemic
The year 2020 will be remembered as the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. But the pandemic was not alone in creating fear and dismay and raising ethical questions. Think of the rise in antisemitism, police violence against Black people, protests against immigration, and rallies by groups espousing Nazi slogans and symbols. Hate crimes, including murder, are the highest in years, according to the most recent FBI report, and were particularly aimed at Jews and Hispanics. Asian-Americans have been targeted as carriers of the so-called “China virus.”Read “Bioethics, Nazi Analogies, and the Coronavirus Pandemic”
Bioethics Forum Essay
A Responsible Death
As debates continue about the decisions people make about how to die, I wish to draw wider attention to the death of Paul Drier. There was little extraordinary about his death. He was a widower, had suffered from multiple health problems, and had been on kidney dialysis for 18 months. Considered to be too ill to qualify for a transplant, he decided to end dialysis. Two aspects of Mr. Drier’s death seem worth putting on record for bioethicists to remember.Bioethics Forum Essay
Bad Vibrations
In “The Rhetoric of Dehumanization: An Analysis of Medical Reports of the Tuskegee Syphilis Project,” Martha Solomon brilliantly demonstrates how the project’s researchers hid their work in plain sight. Specifically,...Hastings Center News
Q & A with Vardit Ravitsky
Welcome to The Hastings Center! You join the Center from the University of Montreal, where you were a professor in the bioethics program in the School of Public Health. You’re...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Investigator Attendance on the Efficiency of IRB Review
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) are challenged to review increasing volumes of proposed research studies while meeting high ethical and regulatory standards.1A growing literature has documented concerns about the IRB review...Read “A Study to Evaluate the Effect of Investigator Attendance on the Efficiency of IRB Review”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Legal but Unethical: Who Works on That?
It’s hard to say what is most horrifying in Carl Elliott’s report in the current issue of Mother Jones of a young man who died caught up in a pharma...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Continuing Ethics Review Practices by Canadian Research Ethics Boards
This study examined Canadian Research Ethics Board (REB) practices concerning continuing ethics review of approved studies. A mail-out questionnaire was used to elicit information from Canadian REB representatives about whether...Read “Continuing Ethics Review Practices by Canadian Research Ethics Boards”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Medicine Needs a Declaration of Independence from Cosmetic Procedures
What is medicine for? I found this question on my mind recently, not only because I had been discussing it with a group of thoughtful medical students to whom I...Read “Medicine Needs a Declaration of Independence from Cosmetic Procedures”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Pink Boys with Puppy Dog Tails
In my e-mail in-box a few weeks ago, I received a polite message from a woman named Sarah Hoffman who was writing to ask why I was being such a...Bioethics Forum Essay
X Marks Evolution: The Benefits of the “Indeterminate Sex” Passport Designator
Australia passed legislation in September giving transgender and intersex passport holders the option to identify themselves with an X for “indeterminate sex.” Navi Pillay, the United Nation’s high commissioner for...Read “X Marks Evolution: The Benefits of the “Indeterminate Sex” Passport Designator”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Contemporary Circus Draws on Ethics to Support Diversity
Even though the circus exists in the same world as theater and movies, it has been largely exempt from public criticism, apart from accusations of animal cruelty. But under the broad rubric of “contemporary circus,” this familiar entertainment genre is distancing itself from its past and creating a new and vibrant art form. And underlying this transformation is an ethical commitment to social justice, inclusion, and equity.Read “Contemporary Circus Draws on Ethics to Support Diversity”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Time for the American Anthropological Association to Apologize
Last week, the journal Human Nature published via open access an article I wrote following a year of historical research. That article, “Darkness’s Descent on the American Anthropological Association: A...Read “Time for the American Anthropological Association to Apologize”
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Matching Gifts
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The Hastings Center for Bioethics — Health, Science, and Technology Ethics
Read “The Hastings Center for Bioethics — Health, Science, and Technology Ethics”
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Voices in Bioethics from the Caribbean Basin/Voces en Bioética desde la Cuenca del Caribe
Table of contents/Tabla de contenidoBiographies/biografías Editors’ Note While the field of bioethics transcends disciplinary siloes and embraces diversity of thought, the field remains divided by language and, too often, wealth....Read “Voices in Bioethics from the Caribbean Basin/Voces en Bioética desde la Cuenca del Caribe”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Who Should Go First in Trials with Scarce Agents? The Views of Potential Participants
Demands from AIDS activists in the 1980s for access to drugs not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) resulted in multiple programs to increase access, including single-patient...Read “Who Should Go First in Trials with Scarce Agents? The Views of Potential Participants”
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Bioethics and Racism
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Racism and Health Equity Racism threatens health equity by withholding resources people need for proper health based on morally arbitrary features like...Page
Ethics and Enhancing Humans
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Enhancing Humans What counts as enhancement is not clear because what counts as normal is itself ambiguous. Enhancement technologies have the potential...Page
Press Release: 5/7/2013 Hastings Center Calls on Health Care Professionals and Organizations to Meet Standards for Good Care Near the End of Life
(Garrison, NY) People with chronic or life-threatening illnesses often experience problems with their care, including confusion and conflict over how to make good decisions, poor communication with care providers, inadequate...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 3-19-2013 Immigration Reform Needs to Address Access to Health Care
(Garrison, NY) With comprehensive immigration reform a priority for President Obama and gaining bipartisan and public support, there is a need and an opportunity to consider how the millions of...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 3-19-2013 Immigration Reform Needs to Address Access to Health Care”
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PRESS RELEASE: 12.13.12 Over 65 Blog Focuses on Seniors Health and Security
(Garrison, NY) Against the backdrop of federal budget negotiations bearing on the future of Medicare and Social Security are ongoing concerns about an aging population: health, economic well-being, family needs,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 12.13.12 Over 65 Blog Focuses on Seniors Health and Security”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 10.16.12 Hastings Center Adds New Online Resources on Undocumented Patients’ Access to Health Care
(Garrison, NY) Health care and immigration are two of the most contentious issues in American politics today, but in the first presidential debate neither of the candidates addressed the question...Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 05.17.12 Hastings Center launches website with resources on undocumented immigrants and access to health care
(Garrison, NY) Who are the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.? What are their greatest health care needs? How do they get health care now, and what are their...From Bioethics Briefings
Family Caregiving
Framing the Issue Families have always taken care of their ill and disabled relatives. Why should it be any different now? This disarmingly simple question often opens a policy discussion...Bioethics Forum Essay
Belief in a Just World: A Case Study in Public Health Ethics
Why did portraying a married, working, loving, family-oriented, and religious couple with a disabled child bring out consistently negative reactions among the public toward allowing this family access to government-subsidized...Read “Belief in a Just World: A Case Study in Public Health Ethics”
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Literature and Other Resources on Impact Assessment for Synthetic Biology
Websites and Online Introductions Synthetic Biology “Synthetic Biology,” by Michele S. Garfinkel, Drew Endy, Gerald Epstein, and Robert M. Friedman The Synthetic Biology Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center...Read “Literature and Other Resources on Impact Assessment for Synthetic Biology”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Promoting Research with Organ Transplant Patients
Abstract: Given the numerous questions related to patient selection, surgical technique, and posttransplant care requiring evidence-based answers, transplantation programs should be conducting research with patients waiting to receive an organ...Page
Ethics and Brain Injury
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Brain Injury: Neuroscience and Neuroethics Not long ago, patients with severe brain injury and no apparent consciousness were presumed to be in...Bioethics Forum Essay
Three Lessons from Leah
Leah Zallman's meticulous research helps us all to tell the story of what immigrants give to this nation and what they should receive from this nation.Page
Ethics and the Family Caregiving
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Family Caregiving The central philosophical question in family caregiving is how to best support infrastructures of care in times where changes in...Page
Common Genetic Variants Associated with Cognitive Performance Identified Using Proxy-Phenotype Method
This document was prepared by several of the co-authors of the paper and board members of the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium. For clarifications or additional questions, please contact: Daniel...From Bioethics Briefings
Medical Aid-in-Dying
Framing the Issue The question of whether severely ill suffering patients are entitled to a physician’s help to end their suffering by ending their lives has been debated since antiquity....Our Team
Nancy Berlinger
Nancy Berlinger is a senior research scholar at The Hastings Center for Bioethics and a Hastings Center fellow. Her training is in the humanities. Her current scholarship and empirical research...From Bioethics Briefings
Quality Improvement Methods in Health Care
Framing the Issue The American health care system has serious problems with quality and safety. One effective way to attack these problems is through the methods of quality improvement (QI)....From Bioethics Briefings
Research in Resource-Poor Countries
Framing the Issue In the 1990s, the term “the 10/90 gap” was used to refer to the gross inequity that only about 10% of global spending on health research was...From Bioethics Briefings
Organ Transplantation
Framing the Issue Every day about 17 people in the United States die waiting for organ transplants. The deaths are especially tragic since many might be prevented if more organs...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10.11.11 New Project Examines Medical Safety Net for Undocumented Patients
(Garrison, NY) The Hastings Center is exploring the ethical challenges that clinicians and organizations face when providing medical care to undocumented immigrants in the United States. The project is supported...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10.11.11 New Project Examines Medical Safety Net for Undocumented Patients”
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Hastings Center Announces New Award for Exemplary End-of-Life Care for Vulnerable and Underserved
The award is named in honor of Dr. Richard Payne, an internationally acclaimed leader in palliative care. At the time of his death, Dr. Payne was a Trustee of the...Hastings Center News
Impact of Racism on Health Framed in New Briefing
A new primer frames the threat racism poses to public health, stating that health equity in general is compromised when any group doesn’t have the resources needed for health. “Racism...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10.04.11 Does MRI Pose More than Minimal Risk in Pediatric Research?
(Garrison, NY) Shedding light on a question that has baffled research ethics review boards, a new analysis of the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pediatric clinical trials finds...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10.04.11 Does MRI Pose More than Minimal Risk in Pediatric Research?”
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PRESS RELEASE: 09.26.11 Is Gallows Humor in Medicine Wrong?
(Garrison, NY) Doctors and other medical professionals occasionally joke about their patients’ problems. Some of these jokes are clearly wrong, but some joking between medical professionals is not only ethical,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 09.26.11 Is Gallows Humor in Medicine Wrong?”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Disabusing the Disability Critique of the New York State Task Force Report on Ventilator Allocation
I am a member of the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law and helped write its 2015 guidelines on the allocation of ventilators during a public health emergency. The position outlined by the Task Force report has been a point of confusion in the media. I don't believe that the Task Force recommendations discriminate against people with disabilities.Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.18.11 Wesleyan University President Michael Roth Joins Hastings Center Board
(Garrison, NY) Historian and author Michael S. Roth has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Hastings Center.Roth, who has served as president of Wesleyan University since 2007,...Hastings Center News
Climate Change Ethics Explained in New Primer
A new primer that frames the moral and policy issues around climate change calls it unlike any problem that humanity has ever faced. “No issue demands greater care in balancing...Page
IRB Submission Guidelines
Authors’ Instructions IRB: Ethics & Human Research is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes scholarly articles offering insight on issues of critical importance to research with human subjects, including findings and analysis...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.09.11 Study Finds Cognitive Deficits More than Psychotic Symptoms Impair Decision-making Capacity in Individuals with Schizophrenia
(Garrison, NY) Concern about the capacity of individuals with schizophrenia to consent to clinical research studies has largely focused on impairment due to psychotic symptoms associated with the disorder. Less...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.04.11 Hastings Center Report Expands Reach through Wiley-Blackwell Partnership
(Garrison, NY) The Hastings Center is pleased to announce a new partnership with Wiley-Blackwell, the Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly (STMS) publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., to publish the Hastings...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10-09-19 New Project: Wrestling with Genetics and Behavior: Risks, Potential Benefits, and Ethical Responsibility
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Solomon to Step Down as Hastings Center President
(JULY 18, 2022) – Hastings Center President Mildred Z. Solomon announced today that she plans to step down in June 2023, marking 11 years of leadership at the pioneering ethics...Page
PRESS RELEASE 1-29-2019: The Inaugural Issue of Ethics & Human Research, January – February 2019
Editor’s Note: Widening the Lens Karen J. Maschke The journal’s name change “provides an opportunity to identify new ethical, policy, and regulatory challenges that rapid developments in science, medicine, and...Page
IRB Reprint Permissions
All requests for permission to reprint or otherwise reproduce articles that have appeared in IRB: Ethics & Human Research are handled by the Copyright Clearance Center. Get permissions for IRB: Ethics & Human Research. Authors who...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.01.11 Social Challenges of Synthetic Biology Examined
(Garrison, NY) In the wake of last year’s creation of the first self-replicating cell with a synthetic genome – which was quickly followed by a request from President Barack Obama...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 08.01.11 Social Challenges of Synthetic Biology Examined”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 07.15.11 Hastings Center Scholar and Colleagues Examine Spiritual Care of Seriously Ill Children
(Garrison, NY) Spiritual care – the care of a patient as a whole person through support for how this person finds meaning in the experience of illness – is widely...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 07.11.11 Summertime, Vacations at National Parks, Corn, Baseball – They’re All Connected in a New Book About the Meaning of Nature
(Garrison, NY) “All natural,” the way Mother Nature intended it,” “it’s just human nature,” “that’s not natural.” The idea of nature and what we call natural does a lot of...Bioethics Forum Essay
False Hope About Coronavirus Treatments
While patients can and do recover from coronavirus infections, there are currently no approved treatments that are known to work against COVID-19.Page
PRESS RELEASE: 06.09.11 Physician participation in lethal injection executions should not be banned, argue two ethicists
(Garrison, NY) Should physicians be banned from assisting in a lethal injection execution, or lose professional certification for doing so? A recent ruling by the American Board of Anesthesiology will...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 05.31.11 What Can We Do About Death? Reinventing the American Medical System
(Garrison, NY) In a feature article in The New Republic, Daniel Callahan and Sherwin Nuland propose a radical reinvention of the American medical system requiring new ways of thinking about living,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 05.31.11 What Can We Do About Death? Reinventing the American Medical System”
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PRESS RELEASE: 05.09.11 A Grim Dilemma: Treating the Tortured Prisoner
(Garrison, NY) Medical involvement with torture is prohibited by international law and professional associations, and yet sometimes it is the right thing for doctors to do, argue two bioethicists. Their...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 05.09.11 A Grim Dilemma: Treating the Tortured Prisoner”
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PRESS RELEASE: 05.04.11 Gilbert Omenn, Leading Cancer Researcher, Geneticist, and Policy Expert, Joins Hastings Center Board
(Garrison, NY) Gilbert S. Omenn, MD, PhD, a leading cancer and translational science researcher and science policy expert, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hastings Center. Omenn...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 04.14.11 Too Much Information? Risk-benefit data does not always lead to informed decision-making
(Garrison, NY) Giving patients data about the risks and benefits of a medical intervention is not always helpful and may even lead them to irrational decisions, according to an article...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 03.24.11 Thomas H. Murray to Step Down as President of The Hastings Center
(Garrison, NY) Thomas H. Murray, president and CEO of The Hastings Center, announced that he will step down in 2012 from his leadership role at the bioethics research institution. Murray,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 03.24.11 Thomas H. Murray to Step Down as President of The Hastings Center”
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PRESS RELEASE: 03.16.11 Debates about Diagnosing and Treating Emotional and Behavioral Disturbances in Children Are Unnecessarily Polarized
(Garrison, NY) Decisions about whether and how to diagnose children with emotional and behavioral disturbances, and whether and how to treat them, are sometimes not clear-cut. When decisions lie within...Page
PRESS RELEASE 5-15-2019: National Endowment for the Humanities supports project on disability, technology, and flourishing
People with disabilities are experts at navigating a world that is not built for them – often by turning to technologies such as voice recognition devices and cochlear implants. But...Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 02.24.11 Erik Parens to Speak About Behavioral Genetics at Feb. 28 Meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues
(Garrison, NY) Hastings Center Scholar Erik Parens, PhD, will speak about behavioral genetics to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues on Monday, February 28. The meeting kicks off...Page
PRESS RELEASE 3-25-2019: New in Ethics & Human Research, March-April 2019
Anticipatory Waivers of Consent for Pediatric Biobanking Jane A. Hartsock, Peter H. Schwartz, Amy C. Waltz, and Mary A. Ott Almost half of the approximately 900 biobanks operating in the...Read “PRESS RELEASE 3-25-2019: New in Ethics & Human Research, March-April 2019”
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PRESS RELEASE: 01.24.11 Unrealistic Optimism Appears Common in Early Cancer Trials
(Garrison, NY) Can optimism be ethically problematic? Yes, according to a new study, which found unrealistic optimism prevalent among participants in early-phase cancer trials and suggested that it may compromise informed...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 01.24.11 Unrealistic Optimism Appears Common in Early Cancer Trials”
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PRESS RELEASE: 01.13.11 Next-Generation Hospital Design Can Improve Health—and Save Money
(Garrison, NY) Extra large private hospital rooms with plenty of natural light and artwork may seem like unaffordable luxuries, but new research shows that these and other architecture and design...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 01.13.11 Next-Generation Hospital Design Can Improve Health—and Save Money”
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PRESS RELEASE 6-6-2019: Dementia and the Ethics of Choosing When to Die
Read “PRESS RELEASE 6-6-2019: Dementia and the Ethics of Choosing When to Die”
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PRESS RELEASE: 01.11.11 Five Physicians Honored for Exemplary End-of-Life Care
(Garrison, NY) A pioneer in establishing palliative care as a medical specialty is one of the five American physicians being honored today for improving the care of patients near the...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 01.11.11 Five Physicians Honored for Exemplary End-of-Life Care”
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Logos and Photos
For more logos, contact Nora Porter, Art Director portern@thehastingscenter.org 845-424-4040, ext. 225Page
Hastings Bioethics Forum
Hastings Bioethics Forum publishes commentaries on topical issues in bioethics. Susan Gilbert, Editor. For questions about contributing, contact gilberts@thehastingscenter.org. Essays are the opinions of the authors, not of The Hastings Center...Page
Looking for the Psychosocial Impacts of Genomic Information
Monday, February 26 and Tuesday, February 27, 2018 For the last quarter century, researchers have been asking whether genomic information might have negative psychosocial effects. Anxiety, depression, disrupted relationships, and heightened...Read “Looking for the Psychosocial Impacts of Genomic Information”
Bioethics Forum Essay
COVID: Collective of Voices in Distress
HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
Scarcity in the Covid-19 Pandemic
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PRESS RELEASE: 11.30.10 Recommendations Issued on Controversial “Ashley” Procedure for Disabled Children
(Garrison, NY) Should parents be able to use medical means to restrict the growth of profoundly disabled children to make them easier to care for at home? A working group...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 11.29.30 How We Die, Award-Winning Classic, Updated for 2010
(Garrison, NY) In a new edition of How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., Hastings Center board member and Fellow, discusses the state of end-of-life care...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 11.29.30 How We Die, Award-Winning Classic, Updated for 2010”
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New in the Hastings Center Report 52, no. 2
New in the Hastings Center Report: Architecture as medical intervention, industry salespeople in the OR, unconsented intimate medical exams, and more in the latest issue. The Bioethics of Built Space:...Bioethics Forum Essay
Controversy in the Hastings Center Report: Responding to an Article on Obesity
Nearly everyone agrees that obesity is a significant public health problem in the United States, and nearly everyone agrees that the public health responses to it so far have been...Read “Controversy in the Hastings Center Report: Responding to an Article on Obesity”
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PRESS RELEASE 4-2-2018: Application Deadline Approaching: The Hastings Center Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics
Submit an article to The Hastings Center Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Ethics and Reprogenetics. Three prizes will be given: a first prize of $6,000 and two runners-up of...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 11.11.10 Pharmaceutical Company Bioethics? Public Health Bioethics? Regenerative Medicine Bioethics?
(Garrison, NY) To celebrate 40 years of pioneering bioethics publication, the Hastings Center Report, the world’s first bioethics journal, looked to the future, asking young scholars to write about what the next...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 11.10.10 Researchers See Ethical Dilemmas in Providing Care in Drug Detention Centers
(Garrison, NY) Organizations that seek to provide health care, food, and other services to people held in drug detention centers in developing countries often face ethical dilemmas: Are they doing...Bioethics Forum Essay
Do New York State’s Ventilator Allocation Guidelines Place Chronic Ventilator Users at Risk? Clarification Needed
There is a lack of clarity about the New York State Task Force guidelines on ventilator allocation. I believe disability rights concerns regarding the recommendations on chronic ventilator users are well-founded. This lack of clarity may cost lives.Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 10.07.10 Author Who Revealed Unethical Guatemala Syphilis Study Writes Follow-up for Bioethics Forum
(Garrison, NY) The researcher whose revelations about unethical U.S. studies on syphilis in Guatemala in the 1940’s lead to apologies from the Obama administration last week has written a commentary...Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Resumes Visiting Scholars Program
The Hastings Center’s longstanding visiting scholars program, which was halted during the Covid-19 pandemic, is back. Applications for stays are now open. The program enables scholars from institutions around the...HASTINGS CENTER NEWS
Neuroscience & Society Series
Series Editor: Gregory E. Kaebnick Funder: Dana Foundation Start date: January 2023 The Hastings Center Report is publishing a series of 18 open-access articles and essays on the ethical, legal, and social...Bioethics Forum Essay
Flattening the Curve, Then What?
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PRESS RELEASE: 09.16.10 With Growing U.S. Support for Personalized Medicine, a Look at Ethical Dilemmas
(Garrison, NY) As government support for personalized medicine grows, a consumer advocate, a patient, and bioethicists explore ethical controversies. Direct-to-consumer genetic tests, privacy, targeted cancer therapies, and Henrietta Lacks are...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 09.14.10 Legal Analysis: The Health Insurance Mandate Is Constitutional
(Garrison, NY) The most politically charged feature of the health reform law is the mandate that legal residents have health insurance. Within weeks of the law’s passage, twenty states had...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 09.14.10 Legal Analysis: The Health Insurance Mandate Is Constitutional”
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PRESS RELEASE 4-25-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report, March-April 2019
Federal Right to Try: Where Is It Going? Kelly Folkers, Carolyn Chapman, and Barbara Redman Many patients with terminal or serious illness who have exhausted their treatment options want access...Read “PRESS RELEASE 4-25-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report, March-April 2019”
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PRESS RELEASE: 09.09.10 Study Finds Most Oregon Hospices do not Fully Participate in the Death with Dignity Act
(Garrison, NY) A survey in the latest issue of the Hastings Center Report found that most hospices in Oregon, the first state to legalize physician-assistance in dying, either do not participate in...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.10.10 Clinical Trials Abroad: Making Non-English Language Consent Forms Readable
(Garrison, NY) The first study to look at simplified English-language consent forms translated into another language calls into question the common belief that a translated consent form meets readability standards....Page
PRESS RELEASE: 08.10.10 Clinical Trials: Study Suggests that Comprehension Is not Affected by Length or Complexity of Consent Forms or by Payment for Research Participation
(Garrison, NY) Although informed consent is an ethical cornerstone in research with humans, some studies suggests that volunteers often do not understand key aspects of the research in which they...Page
PRESS RELEASE 08-16-2018: New in The Hastings Center Report, July-August 2018
On Avoiding Deep Dementia Norman L. Cantor To avoid prolonged dementia, the author has written an advanced directive to prohibit the provision of life-sustaining interventions, including hydration and nutrition, should...Read “PRESS RELEASE 08-16-2018: New in The Hastings Center Report, July-August 2018”
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PRESS RELEASE 1-04-2019: What Does “Dead” Mean?
Should death be defined in strictly biological terms — as the body’s failure to maintain integrated functioning of respiration, blood circulation, and neurological activity? Should death be declared on the...Page
PRESS RELEASE 6-1-2018: New in the Hastings Center Report, May-June 2018
Genetic Privacy, Disease Prevention, and the Principle of Rescue Madison K. Kilbride People who undergo genetic testing sometimes discover that they carry mutations that increase their risk of hereditary disease....Read “PRESS RELEASE 6-1-2018: New in the Hastings Center Report, May-June 2018”
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PRESS RELEASE: 07.15.10 Bioethics Beach Reading, Summer 2010 Edition
(Garrison, NY) What if I were grown only so my organs could be harvested, and I had to care for others whose organs are being taken, too, while I wait for...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 07.15.10 Bioethics Beach Reading, Summer 2010 Edition”
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PRESS RELEASE 1-04-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report
The Social Value Requirement in Research: From the Transactional to the Basic Structure Model of Stakeholder Obligations Danielle M. Wenner The Nuremberg Code and other research ethics guidelines stipulate that...Read “PRESS RELEASE 1-04-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 07.01.10 Greg Kaebnick to Speak on Synthetic Biology at First Meeting of The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues
(Garrison, NY) Synthetic biology is the topic of the first meeting of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, which will be held on July 8-9 in Washington,...Page
Press Release HCR Nov-Dec 2020
New in the Hastings Center Report: Should Many Prescription Drugs Be Available Over the Counter? Appealing to patient autonomy, bioethicists argue for making oral contraceptives, HIV-prevention medicines, statins, and...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 06.22.10 Implementing Comparative Effectiveness Research: Lessons from the Mammography Screening Controversy
(Garrison, NY) The firestorm that followed the November 2009 release of guidelines that would have reduced use of screening mammograms in women aged 40 to 49 highlights challenges for implementing...Page
Press Release: Dr. Anthony Fauci on Public Trust in Science. A Hastings Center Event
The Hastings Center will host Dr. Anthony Fauci in “Public Trust in Science,” the second in a Hastings Conversations discussion series, Securing Health in a Troubled Time. The nation’s top...Read “Press Release: Dr. Anthony Fauci on Public Trust in Science. A Hastings Center Event”
Hastings Center News
What Can Frankenstein Teach Us About Living in the Genetics Age?
Join us to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein with a panel discussion that will explore the novel from the perspectives of bioethics, literary criticism, and science...Read “What Can Frankenstein Teach Us About Living in the Genetics Age?”
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Press Release: New Project: Building an Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health Care
Big Data in health care is growing, and it is coming from an increasing number of sources, including electronic health records, patient monitors and physical activity trackers, and smartphone applications....Read “Press Release: New Project: Building an Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health Care”
Hastings Center News
Health Equity Summit Recap
The Hastings Center and the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Health Justice convened a two-day health equity summit called “Righting the Wrongs: Tackling Health Inequities” on January 19...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 06.10.10 New Book Compares Health Care in New York, Paris, and London
(Garrison, NY) Why do other countries spend less on health care and yet achieve near-universal coverage and often better outcomes than the United States? This question has come up repeatedly...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 06.10.10 New Book Compares Health Care in New York, Paris, and London”
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PRESS RELEASE: 05.28.10 Consent Forms for Research: Have They Improved in 25 Years?
(Garrison, NY) The consent forms that people sign before participating in research are widely considered difficult to understand and sometimes inaccurate. The lack of clarity was implicated in a high-profile...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 05.28.10 Consent Forms for Research: Have They Improved in 25 Years?”
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Press Release: Navigating: On Disability, Technology, and Experiencing the World
Virtual public event on Tuesday, September 29, presented by The Hastings Center and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities The Hastings Center will present the second in a...Read “Press Release: Navigating: On Disability, Technology, and Experiencing the World”
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PRESS RELEASE 2-18-14: Hastings Center Announces Journalists Bootcamp on Covering End-of-Life Care
Debates about when life ends and treatment decision-making are regularly in the news – most recently with the California teenager and the pregnant woman in Texas declared brain dead. To...Page
Press Release: New in the Hastings Center Report: Ethical Challenges of the Opioid Crisis
The nationwide surge in drug abuse predates the Covid-19 pandemic but has risen to new highs during it. Causes of the crisis–physician prescribing habits and societal problems like poverty and...Read “Press Release: New in the Hastings Center Report: Ethical Challenges of the Opioid Crisis”
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PRESS RELEASE: 05.19.10 Proposed Diagnostic Change Not Enough to Help Children Currently Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder
(Garrison, NY) Shifting children from the controversial diagnosis of bipolar disorder to one that more accurately reflects their symptoms will not by itself decrease the rate of psychopharmacologic treatment and...Page
For The Media
Please direct media queries to:Susan Gilbert, communications directorgilberts@thehastingscenter.org845-424-4040, ext. 244 Hastings Center News:Read the News Archive About the Hastings Center for Bioethics:The Hastings Center for Bioethics is a nonpartisan ethics...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 04.14.10 Three Hastings Center Fellows Chosen for Obama’s Bioethics Commission; Chair Is Also a Fellow
(Garrison, NY) Hastings Center Fellows Anita Allen, Christine Grady, and Daniel Sulmasy were appointed to President Barack Obama’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, the White House announced. Amy...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 04.01.10 Baseball season opener: athletes and ethicists look at fairness in sport
(Garrison,NY) Just in time for baseball’s opening day, a series of articles in the Hastings Center Report asks what constitutes fairness in elite sports and what it takes to stop cheating. New...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 03.24.10 Fertility industry offers big money to recruit “desirable” egg donors at top universities
(Garrison, NY) Many egg donation agencies and private couples routinely exceed compensation recommendation limits for potential donors, a new study finds. From a sample of over 300 college newspapers, findings...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 03.18.10 Broad Application of Bipolar Diagnosis in Children May Do More Harm than Good
(Garrison, NY) Troubled children diagnosed with bipolar disorder may fare better with a different diagnosis, according to researchers at The Hastings Center. The researchers support an emerging approach, which gives...Page
Inaugural Cohort of Trustees Emeriti Announced
March 1, 2023 – The Hastings Center’s Board of Directors announced the inaugural cohort of trustees emeriti, former directors whose service, expertise, leadership, and support have helped position Hastings as the world’s...Page
PRESS RELEASE 12-9-13 Marketing Loans for Fertility Treatments Raises Ethical Concerns
An increase in the number of lenders specializing in loans for fertility treatments enables more people to afford the treatments, but it also raises ethical concerns, concludes a commentary in the Hastings...Read “PRESS RELEASE 12-9-13 Marketing Loans for Fertility Treatments Raises Ethical Concerns”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Chinese Bioethicists: Silencing Doctor Impeded Early Control of Coronavirus
The death of Dr Li Wenliang from COVID-19 is heartbreaking for our country and people. Dr. Li was reprimanded for messages he posted in a chat group warning fellow doctors about a mysterious infection. His death from coronavirus underscored gaps and deficiencies in our country’s health care system and system of governance.Read “Chinese Bioethicists: Silencing Doctor Impeded Early Control of Coronavirus”
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Professional Chaplains and Health Care Quality Improvement
Project launched in March 2007 Download Can We Measure Good Chaplaincy?, an essay set featured in Hastings Center Report (Nov-Dec 2008). Download Professional Chaplains and Health Care Quality Improvement, Summary of Activities...Read “Professional Chaplains and Health Care Quality Improvement”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 03.08.10 Reporter Resources on the Obama Health Care Plan and Costs
(Garrison,NY) President Obama released a proposal for health reform last week that, according to the White House Web site, aims to “make health care more affordable, make health insurers more accountable,...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 03.08.10 Reporter Resources on the Obama Health Care Plan and Costs”
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Event to Examine Disability as a Creative Force
SEPTEMBER 22, 2021: The Hastings Center, a global ethics leader, announce that three artists and writers will lead a special virtual event — “Enjoying: Disability as a Creative Force” —...Bioethics Forum Essay
Bioethics Books in Brief
A lot of new bioethics books come to The Hastings Center. Some of them end up getting reviewed in the Hastings Center Report, but not as many as we’d like. So,...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10-7-13 Improving the Quality of Clinical Ethics Consultants
Clinical ethicists play a vital role in hospitals and other health care systems by helping to resolve ethical conflicts that arise between patients, families, and clinicians about end-of-life care and...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10-7-13 Improving the Quality of Clinical Ethics Consultants”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Coronavirus Response Is Insufficient for Vulnerable New Yorkers
Read “Coronavirus Response Is Insufficient for Vulnerable New Yorkers”
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PRESS RELEASE 4-5-2018: New in the Hastings Center Report: March-April 2018
Progress: Its Glories and Pitfalls Daniel Callahan In his new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Stephen Pinker, a cognitive psychologist and linguist at Harvard,...Read “PRESS RELEASE 4-5-2018: New in the Hastings Center Report: March-April 2018”
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PRESS RELEASE: 07-08-2019 Does Genetic Testing Pose Psychosocial Risks?
Read “PRESS RELEASE: 07-08-2019 Does Genetic Testing Pose Psychosocial Risks?”
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PRESS RELEASE: 9/4/13 Childhood obesity demands more doctor-parent discussion
Surveys show that few pediatricians and other doctors who treat overweight children discuss weight with their parents. But in avoiding the topic, doctors are missing an opportunity to help control...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 9/4/13 Childhood obesity demands more doctor-parent discussion”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 5-16-13 Ethical Dilemmas Raised by New Stem Cell Research
The report yesterday that scientists in Oregon had created the first human embryonic stem cells through cloning renewed hopes for the development of stem cell therapies for degenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 5-16-13 Ethical Dilemmas Raised by New Stem Cell Research”
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Neuroscience and Society
Neuroscience and Society is a three-year series of articles and essays on the ethical, legal, and social issues presented by emerging neuroscience. It is published open access in the Hastings...Page
PRESS RELEASE 5-11-2017: Setting Priorities for Future Work on Aging
It’s unusual for a funder to recognize that large societal problems are best addressed after deep reflection and a deliberate and inclusive process of consultation and priority-setting. “But then,” says...Read “PRESS RELEASE 5-11-2017: Setting Priorities for Future Work on Aging”
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Hastings Center Partners on AI Project Led by National Academies
June 21, 2023 – The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) is partnering with a group of leading health, bioethics, equity, tech, patient advocacy, and research organizations, including The Hastings Center, to develop...Read “Hastings Center Partners on AI Project Led by National Academies”
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Summer Bioethics Program for Undergraduates
About the Program The Hastings Center Summer Bioethics Program for Undergraduates is a five-day live online program opportunity for undergraduates who are interested in bioethics issues and related careers who...Bioethics Forum Essay
The Choice Bazaar
Some years ago I wrote a book on abortion that espoused women’s right to choose abortion and was later cited in Roe v. Wade. That should have made me popular with...Page
New in Ethics & Human Research, November-December 2021 Issue: Pregnant Participants in Research
Institutional review boards can be inconsistent and can lack transparency in decision-making. In this issue of Ethics & Human Research, Andrea Seykora, Director of Public Policy and Legal Affairs at...Page
PRESS RELEASE 10-2-2017: Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Brings Hope and Challenges
The first gene therapy for cancer, approved by the Food Drug Administration in August, will transform the treatment of a particular kind of cancer in children and young adults. It’s...Read “PRESS RELEASE 10-2-2017: Breakthrough Cancer Treatment Brings Hope and Challenges”
Bioethics Forum Essay
The Presidential Bioethics Debate 2012
With the first presidential debate beginning tonight and the race entering the final stretch, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are making their final policy pitches to the American public. While...Page
New in Ethics & Human Research, September-October 2021 Issue: Pregnant Participants in Research
Pregnant people are often excluded from research without clear justification, even when there is little harm to the fetus in minimal‐risk research. In this issue of Ethics & Human Research,...Page
PRESS RELEASE 10-16-2018: What Makes a Good Life in Late Life? Citizenship and Justice in Aging Societies
The United States is an aging society, where one in five people will be 65 or older by 2035. While bioethics scholarship on aging has historically concerned itself with issues...Page
PRESS RELEASE 2-21-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report, January-February 2019
Social Media, E-Health, and Medical Ethics Mélanie Terrasse, Moti Gorin, and Dominic Sisti Given the profound influence of social media and emerging evidence of its effects on human behavior and...Read “PRESS RELEASE 2-21-2019: New in the Hastings Center Report, January-February 2019”
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PRESS RELEASE: 4-30-2013 The Ethics of Knowledge: When Should Hazardous Scientific Information be Made Public?
(Garrison, NY) How can we best address the potential threat posed by “dual use” research – scientific findings that can be used for good or evil? An article and two...Page
PRESS RELEASE 10-3-2017: New in the Hastings Center Report
The Case for Resource Sensitivity: Why It Is Ethical to Provide Cheaper, Less Effective Treatments in Global Health Govind C. Persad and Ezekiel J. Emanuel When Dr. Hortense screens her...Read “PRESS RELEASE 10-3-2017: New in the Hastings Center Report”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 4/2/13 Hastings Center Fellow to Deliver George W. Gay Lecture at Harvard
Dan Brock, the Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Medical Ethics in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will deliver the 2013 George W. Gay...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 4/2/13 Hastings Center Fellow to Deliver George W. Gay Lecture at Harvard”
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Supporting women’s autonomy in prenatal testing
Noninvasive fetal genetic sequencing done early in pregnancy is poised to become a routine part of prenatal care. While it could offer patients substantial benefits, there is a risk that...Page
PRESS RELEASE 10-22-2018: New in The Hastings Center Report, September-October 2018
Disentangling Conscience Protections Nadia N. Sawicki Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced its intention to strengthen the enforcement of legal protections for health care...Read “PRESS RELEASE 10-22-2018: New in The Hastings Center Report, September-October 2018”
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Recreating the wild: De-extinction, technology, and the ethics of conservation
Is extinction forever? Efforts are under way to use gene editing and other tools of biotechnology to “recreate” extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and the passenger pigeon. Could...Read “Recreating the wild: De-extinction, technology, and the ethics of conservation”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Low-T, High Profit?
An unusually lengthy and undoubtedly expensive 90-second commercial for Androgel aired during men’s swimming and volleyball events in NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. The ad touts Androgel 1.62%, a more concentrated formulation...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 1-23-13 Experts Propose Overhaul of Ethics Oversight of Research
(Garrison, NY) The longstanding ethical framework for protecting human volunteers in medical research needs to be replaced because it is outdated and can impede efforts to improve health care quality,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 1-23-13 Experts Propose Overhaul of Ethics Oversight of Research”
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Physicians and Nurses Recognized for Providing Exceptional End of Life Care
Six physicians and three nurses selected to receive the 2022 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Awards. The Hastings Center and The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation are pleased to announce nine recipients of awards that...Read “Physicians and Nurses Recognized for Providing Exceptional End of Life Care ”
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PRESS RELEASE: 1-22-13 Bioethics Leader Calls for Bold Approach to Fighting Obesity
(Garrison, NY) Arguing that obesity “may be the most difficult and elusive public health problem the United States has ever encountered” and that anti-obesity efforts having made little discernible difference,...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 1-22-13 Bioethics Leader Calls for Bold Approach to Fighting Obesity”
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PRESS RELEASE: 1-15-13 Five Physicians Honored for Outstanding Care of Patients Near the End of Life
(Garrison NY, January 15, 2013) Five physicians who have distinguished themselves in caring for patients near the end of life have been named recipients of the 2013 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 11.13.12 Western Media Coverage of Female Genital Surgeries in Africa is “Hyperbolic” and “One-Sided,” says International Policy Group
(Garrison, NY) Despite widespread condemnation of female genital surgeries as a form of mutilation and a violation of human rights, an international advisory group argues that the practice is poorly...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 07-11-2019 Hastings Center Report, May-June 2019
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Bioethics Forum Essay
Report from China: Ethical Questions on the Response to the Coronavirus
Hastings Center fellows in China discuss ethical questions about the response to the spreading coronavirus.Read “Report from China: Ethical Questions on the Response to the Coronavirus”
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New in the Hastings Center Report: Crisis Standards of Care, September-October 2021 issue
Press release HCR September-October 2021 LH New in the Hastings Center Report: Crisis Standards of Care, September-October 2021 issue As Covid spreads and leaves intensive care units at or near capacity...Read “New in the Hastings Center Report: Crisis Standards of Care, September-October 2021 issue”
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PRESS RELEASE: 08-27-2019 Hastings Center Report, July-August 2019
Read “PRESS RELEASE: 08-27-2019 Hastings Center Report, July-August 2019”
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Ethics of Medical Research with Animals: Science, Values, and Alternatives
Project launched in June 2011 Principal Investigators: Thomas H. Murray, Gregory Kaebnick, and Susan Gilbert Funder:The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund Project background Research involving animals has been a cornerstone of medical progress...Read “Ethics of Medical Research with Animals: Science, Values, and Alternatives”
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PRESS RELEASE: 11.19.12 Two New Books by Daniel Callahan: A Memoir and a Collected Writing on “Roots of Bioethics”
(Garrison, NY) Daniel Callahan, who established the field of bioethics with the co-founding of The Hastings Center in 1969, has two new books: a memoir, In Search of the Good:...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 09-03-2019 Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing
Read “PRESS RELEASE: 09-03-2019 Human Flourishing in an Age of Gene Editing”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 11.02.12 Daniel Callahan and Marcia Angell on Death with Dignity Ballot Initiative
(Garrison, NY) New commentaries by Daniel Callahan, cofounder of The Hastings Center, and Marcia Angell, M.D., senior lecturer in social medicine at Harvard Medical School, give opposing views on the...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10-01-2019 Ethics & Human Research, September-October 2019
Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10-01-2019 Ethics & Human Research, September-October 2019”
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Stays at The Hastings Center
The Hastings Center offers short-term, self-supervised stays to scholars with well-developed writing or editing projects in bioethics or medical/health humanities underway. Admission to this program is by application, starting with...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10.15.12 Personalized Genomic Medicine – How Much Can It Really Empower Patients?
(Garrison, NY) Personalized genomic medicine is hailed as a revolution that will empower patients to take control of their own health care, but it could end up taking control away...Page
PRESS RELEASE 3-04-2019: Should Patients Be Considered Consumers?
There is broad support for building health care systems that are patient centered, seen as a means of improving health outcomes and as morally worthy in itself. But the concept...Read “PRESS RELEASE 3-04-2019: Should Patients Be Considered Consumers?”
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PRESS RELEASE: 09.11.12 Analyzing the “Facebook Effect” on Organ and Tissue Donation
(Garrison, NY) When Facebook introduced a feature that enables people to register to become organ and tissue donors, thousands did so, dwarfing any previous donation initiative, write Blair L. Sadler...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 09.11.12 Analyzing the “Facebook Effect” on Organ and Tissue Donation”
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PRESS RELEASE 6-6-2018: New Hastings Center Project: How Should the Public Learn?
Technologies are transforming the planet and all its inhabitants, human and nonhuman, calling out for assessment and wise decision making. Yet trust in science is eroding and polarization deeply threatens...Read “PRESS RELEASE 6-6-2018: New Hastings Center Project: How Should the Public Learn?”
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PRESS RELEASE 11-27-2017: Reimagining Autonomy in Reproductive Medicine
Do the reproductive choices of prospective parents truly align with their values and priorities? How do doctors, reproductive technologies, and the law influence those choices? And why should certain women...Read “PRESS RELEASE 11-27-2017: Reimagining Autonomy in Reproductive Medicine”
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PRESS RELEASE 8-15-2018: Should All Babies Have Their Genomes Sequenced?
As the cost of genome sequencing decreases, researchers and clinicians are debating whether all newborns should be sequenced at birth, facilitating a lifetime of personalized medical care. But while sequencing...Read “PRESS RELEASE 8-15-2018: Should All Babies Have Their Genomes Sequenced?”
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PRESS RELEASE: 08.15.12 Study Finds Pregnant Women Support Some Participation in Research
(Garrison, NY) A new study involving pregnant women who enrolled in randomized vaccine trials challenges the longstanding reluctance to conduct research with pregnant women because of ethical concerns about the...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 08.15.12 Study Finds Pregnant Women Support Some Participation in Research”
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PRESS RELEASE 9-26-2018: Debating Modern Medical Technologies: The Politics of Safety, Effectiveness, and Patient Access
Does a new medicine or diagnostic test work? Is it safe? Should the government approve it and insurers pay for it? The answers are not as straightforward as they may...Bioethics Forum Essay
Crowdfunding for Covid-Related Needs: Unfair and Inadequate
One-third of all new GoFundMe campaigns in the United States are for COVID-19-related needs. This shows where we have failed as a society. It is a makeshift response to institutional failures and not a fair or sustainable solution to crises.Read “Crowdfunding for Covid-Related Needs: Unfair and Inadequate”
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Project to Examine “Deliberate Extinction” of Species
October 4, 2023 – A new project at The Hastings Center will propose recommendations for deciding if especially dangerous species should be eradicated with gene editing technology. Candidate species could...Read “Project to Examine “Deliberate Extinction” of Species”
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PRESS RELEASE: 08.10.12 Prenatal Whole Genome Sequencing: Just Because We Can, Should We?
(Garrison, NY) With whole genome sequencing quickly becoming more affordable and accessible, we need to pay more attention to the massive amount of information it will deliver to parents –...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 08.10.12 Prenatal Whole Genome Sequencing: Just Because We Can, Should We?”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 07.26.12 Bioethicist Tom Murray available to discuss doping, fairness, and other ethical issues in sport as Olympics approach
(Garrison, NY) With the Olympics beginning on July 27, attention is focused on the world’s top athletes, as well as ethical issues surrounding the use of performance-enhancing drugs and other...Page
PRESS RELEASE 1-10-2018: GOOD SPORT: WHY OUR GAMES MATTER AND HOW DOPING UNDERMINES THEM
New book by Hastings Center President Emeritus Thomas Murray examines the use of sports enhancements against the values that give athletic competition its meaning. In the wake of Olympic doping...Read “PRESS RELEASE 1-10-2018: GOOD SPORT: WHY OUR GAMES MATTER AND HOW DOPING UNDERMINES THEM”
Bioethics Forum Essay
COVID-19 and the Global Ethics Freefall
Since the initial outbreak in Wuhan last December, the national and global responses to COVID-19 have been in ethics freefall.Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 07.24.12 Hastings Center Board member and Fellow on White House panel: Greening America’s Hospitals
(Garrison, NY) Successful strategies that hospitals and other health care facilities can use to increase environmental sustainability, reduce costs, and improve patient care are the focus of an event taking...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 07.12.12 Medical Ethicists Face Cancer in New Book
(Garrison, NY) “Since my diagnosis, I had been immersed in a crash course in real-world medical ethics,” writes Rebecca Dresser, editor of Malignant: Medical Ethicists Confront Cancer, published by Oxford...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 07.12.12 Medical Ethicists Face Cancer in New Book”
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PRESS RELEASE: 06.28.12 “Recruitment by Genotype” for Genetic Research Poses Ethical Challenges, Study Finds
(Garrison, NY) A potentially powerful strategy for studying the significance of human genetic variants is to recruit people identified by previous genetic research as having particular variants. But that strategy...Bioethics Forum Essay
Coronavirus and the Crisis of Trust
Influenza and coronavirus cause similar symptoms probably through similar modes of transmission. What is unique about coronavirus is that misinformation, missteps, conspiracies, and cover-ups have left their mark on public trust.Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 06.22.12 Is the Mandate Fair? The Bioethics of the Affordable Care Act
(Garrison, NY) However the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the insurance mandate and other aspects of the Affordable Care Act, the law raises foundational issues for society about...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 06.22.12 Is the Mandate Fair? The Bioethics of the Affordable Care Act”
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PRESS RELEASE 11-30-2017: NEW IN THE HASTINGS CENTER REPORT
Standard-of-care sprawl and clinician self-interest, health implications of ending DACA, questions about CAR-T gene therapy, and more in the November-December 2017 issue. Stemming the Standard-of-Care Sprawl: Clinician Self-Interest and the...Read “PRESS RELEASE 11-30-2017: NEW IN THE HASTINGS CENTER REPORT”
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PRESS RELEASE: 12-10-2019 Hastings Center Report, November-December 2019
Read “PRESS RELEASE: 12-10-2019 Hastings Center Report, November-December 2019”
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Graduate Programs
There are a number of graduate programs to help students and professionals understand the moral problems that arise in medicine and the life sciences. This searchable database from the Association...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 05.30.12 When is it Ethical to Prescribe Placebos?
(Garrison, NY) The American Medical Association’s Code of Ethics prohibits physicians from prescribing treatments that they consider to be placebos unless the patients know this and agree to take them...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 05.30.12 When is it Ethical to Prescribe Placebos?”
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Report Calls for Improved Oversight On “Chimeric” Human – Animal Research
December 12, 2022 – A new report on the ethics of crossing species boundaries by inserting human cells into (nonhuman) animals – research surrounded by debate – makes recommendations clarifying...Read “Report Calls for Improved Oversight On “Chimeric” Human – Animal Research”
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PRESS RELEASE: 10-11-2019 Hastings Center Report, September-October 2019
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PRESS RELEASE: 05.01.12 Protections Needed for Some People Who Say No to Research, Study Concludes
(Garrison, NY) Although federal regulations provide protections for people who participate in research, protections are also needed for some people who decline to participate and may face harmful repercussions as...Hastings Center News
What’s Actually Wrong with Sports Doping?
What’s actually wrong with doping—if all athletes had access to the same performance-enhancing drugs, wouldn’t that make competitions fair? If the purpose of sport is to maximize performance, shouldn’t we...Page
Hastings Center Names Vardit Ravitsky New President
March 29, 2023 — The Hastings Center Board of Trustees announced that Vardit Ravitsky, PhD, a leading bioethicist whose career has focused on the ethical, legal, and social implications of...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 03.27.12 Bioethics Gets Personal with Hastings’ First Consumer Website and Hastings-NOVA Special on Personalized Medicine Premiering on PBS on March 28
(Garrison, NY) Will genetic testing and personalized medicine change the way you think about your life? Should it? What can you really learn about your future from direct-to-consumer genetic tests–or...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 03.22.12 Hastings Bioethicist Contributes to Consensus Guidelines on Responsibility of Biobanks to Return Results to Participants in Genomic Research
(Garrison, NY) Karen J. Maschke, a research scholar at The Hastings Center, is coauthor of a consensus article that explicitly outlines “significant new responsibilities” for biobanks concerning the return of...Page
PRESS RELEASE 5-23-2019: New in Ethics & Human Research, May-June 2019
Burden or Opportunity? Parent Experiences When Approached for Research in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Erin Paquette, Avani Shukla, Jacob Davidson, Karen Rychlik, and Matthew Davis There’s an ongoing...Read “PRESS RELEASE 5-23-2019: New in Ethics & Human Research, May-June 2019”
Bioethics Forum Essay
The Trial of “Death by Medicine”: An Interview with Lisa Krieger
On February 5, Lisa Krieger, a science and medicine writer for the Mercury News in San Jose, Ca, published a remarkably moving and insightful article about the protracted dying of her 88-year-old father. Suffering...Read “The Trial of “Death by Medicine”: An Interview with Lisa Krieger”
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TRANSCRIPT: Anti-Black Racism, Health & Health Care
This transcript was generated by computer and may contain errors. Aashna Lal, The Hastings Center Thank you all for joining us today. Welcome to anti-black racism, health and health care....Page
PRESS RELEASE: 02.22.12 Attitudes Vary about Payments to Research Participants
(Garrison, NY) Researchers almost always offer money as an incentive for healthy volunteers to enroll in research studies, but does payment amount to coercion or undue inducement to participate in...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 02.22.12 Attitudes Vary about Payments to Research Participants”
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Ethics of Medical Research with Animals: Science, Values, and Alternatives
Principal Investigators: Thomas H. Murray, Gregory Kaebnick, and Susan Gilbert Funder: The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund The goal of the project was to bring together people with different points of view and...Read “Ethics of Medical Research with Animals: Science, Values, and Alternatives”
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PRESS RELEASE: 02.07.12 Justifying Insurance Coverage for Orphan Drugs
(Garrison, NY) How can insurers justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient per year on “orphan drugs” – extremely expensive medications for rare conditions that are mostly chronic and life-threatening...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 02.07.12 Justifying Insurance Coverage for Orphan Drugs”
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PRESS RELEASE: 01.10.12 Five Physicians Honored for End-of-Life Care
(Garrison, NY) A pioneer in establishing best practices for palliative care is one of the five American physicians being honored today for improving the care of patients near the end...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 01.10.12 Five Physicians Honored for End-of-Life Care”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Open House: June 13
Join us on our campus overlooking the Hudson River for a conversation about AI, Health, and Bioethics featuring Leigh Hafrey, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, and...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 12.07.11 Hasting Center Awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
(Garrison, NY) The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded The Hastings Center a challenge grant to support an endowment for a major new humanities research program.The $425,000 grant, to...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 12.07.11 Hasting Center Awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Grant”
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PRESS RELEASE: 12.06.11 Hastings Center, Kent Place School Embark on Pioneering High School Bioethics Program
(Garrison, NY ) The Hastings Center and the Ethics Institute at Kent Place School are joining forces on a pilot project in which a group of high school students will...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 11.22.11 Study of Women with Anorexia Nervosa Finds Inner Conflicts Over the “Real” Self that Have Treatment Implications
(Garrison, NY) People with anorexia nervosa struggle with questions about their real, or “authentic,” self – whether their illness is separate from or integral to them – and this conflict...Page
Hastings Center and Cunniff Dixon Foundation Announce Nursing Awards
The Hastings Center and the Cunniff-Dixon Foundation are pleased to announce two new $25,000 awards to honor outstanding care provided by hospice and palliative care nurses to patients nearing the...Read “Hastings Center and Cunniff Dixon Foundation Announce Nursing Awards”
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PRESS RELEASE: 11.10.11 Hastings Center Elects 10 New Fellows, Expands International Reach
(Garrison, NY) The Hastings Center, the world’s first research center devoted to bioethics, has strengthened its international network of Fellows by electing ten new members from four different countries. The...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 11.10.11 Hastings Center Elects 10 New Fellows, Expands International Reach”
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PRESS RELEASE 2-20-2018: Special Report: Governance of Emerging Technologies: Aligning Policy Analysis with the Public’s Values
Emerging biotechnologies hold great promise but could pose great risks. However, the benefits and costs are often difficult to anticipate and hard to quantify, and they can vary widely among...From Bioethics Briefings
End-of-Life Care
Framing the Issue End-of-life care and its many dilemmas capture public attention when they make national news, often involving a family seeking a court order to remove life support from...Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Welcomes 14 New Fellows
The Hastings Center is pleased to announce the election of 14 new Fellows.Page
Ethics and Pandemic Response
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Pandemics: The Ethics of Mandatory and Voluntary Interventions Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) such as isolation and quarantine, school closures, and social distancing measures...Page
Ethics and Aging
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: AgingThere is a steady rise in world population growth with the fastest proportional increase coming from the elderly. Technological advances in medicine...SPECIAL EVENT
Re-Opening the Nation: What Values Should Guide Us?
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Certificates of Confidentiality and Informed Consent: Perspectives of IRB Chairs and Institutional Legal Counsel
Researchers conducting studies in which sensitive information about the participants is collected may apply to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a Certificate of Confidentiality to help safeguard participants’...Page
Ethics and Stem Cells
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Stem CellsStem cells hold great promise for treating degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and diabetes, understanding genetic illnesses, and answering fundamental...Page
Disaster Planning and Bioethics
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Disaster Planning and Public Health Bioethics Briefing A public health emergency exists when the health consequences of a decision have the potential...Page
PRESS RELEASE: Undocumented Immigrants and Access to Health Care in New York City
The Hastings Center and the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) today released a report,“Undocumented Immigrants and Access to Health Care in New York City: Identifying Fair, Effective, and Sustainable Local...Read “PRESS RELEASE: Undocumented Immigrants and Access to Health Care in New York City”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Newspaper Op-Eds Should Disclose Authors’ Industry Ties
Earlier this month, The Seattle Times published an op-ed by Samuel Browd, medical director of Seattle Children’s Sport Concussion Program, on the risks of brain injury in youth sports. Dr. Browd...Read “Newspaper Op-Eds Should Disclose Authors’ Industry Ties”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Welcomes 24 New Fellows
The Hastings Center is pleased to announce the election of 24 new fellows. Hastings Center fellows are a group of more than 200 individuals of outstanding accomplishment whose work has...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Pediatric Magnetic Resonance Research and the Minimal-Risk Standard
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research combines powerful electromagnetic forces and sophisticated electronic technology to provide privileged glimpses into the human body. These features make the field a proving ground for...Read “Pediatric Magnetic Resonance Research and the Minimal-Risk Standard”
Hastings Center News
Nominate Physicians for Outstanding End-of-Life Care
Nominations are open for awards that recognize six physicians for providing outstanding care to patients nearing the end of life. The awards are given by The Hastings Center and the...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Barriers to Change in the Informed Consent Process: A Systematic Literature Review
The informed consent process for clinical research is one that includes personal interactions, the informed consent document, and an individual’s decision about whether to participate in research. The intent is...Read “Barriers to Change in the Informed Consent Process: A Systematic Literature Review”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Ethical Review of Interpretive Research: Problems and Solutions
Since prior review and approval of human subject research became standard some thirty years ago, social scientists have voiced concern about the ways in which the rules and regulations that...Read “Ethical Review of Interpretive Research: Problems and Solutions”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Research Benefits for Hypothetical HIV Vaccine Trials: The Views of Ugandans in the Rakai District
Collaborative, multinational clinical research is complicated by thorny ethical issues, especially when sponsored by developed world entities and conducted in the developing world. An overarching ethical concern in all research...Page
Ethics and Abortion
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: AbortionA central philosophical question in the abortion debate concerns the moral status of the embryo and fetus. Public opinion on abortion falls...Bioethics Forum Essay
Public Citizen: The SUPPORT Study was Even Worse than We Thought
In his April 18 Bioethics Forum article, John Lantos criticized the findings of the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Human Research Protections that the conduct of the Surfactant,...Read “Public Citizen: The SUPPORT Study was Even Worse than We Thought”
From Bioethics Briefings
Torture: The Bioethics Perspective
Framing the Issue Torture occupies an odd position in that it is universally illegal and widely practiced. Despite many studies showing its inefficacy, more than half of the world’s nations...From Bioethics Briefings
Sports Enhancement
Framing the Issue Spring in America brings flowers, sweet warm breezes, and the thwack of a bat striking a baseball. The Mitchell Report, an early Christmas present to baseball fans...From Bioethics Briefings
Racism and Health Equity
Framing the Issue Racism has been declared a threat to public health by public health and medical organizations like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical...From Bioethics Briefings
Aging
Framing the Issue The aging of modern societies–a striking fruit of medical advances and improved economic and living standards–is one of the most important global challenges, affecting rich and poor...From Bioethics Briefings
Genomics, Behavior, and Social Outcomes
Framing the Issue The completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 ushered in technological advancements that have made genetic information more accessible to researchers and the public than ever...Our Team
Erik Parens
Erik Parens is a senior research scholar at The Hastings Center for Bioethics and Director of the Center’s Initiative in Bioethics and the Humanities. He has taught bioethics as an...From Bioethics Briefings
Neonatal Care
Framing the Issue Approximately 380,000 babies, or 9.6%, are born prematurely (before 37 weeks gestation) in the United States each year. This is a significant reduction since 2007, when the...Page
PRESS RELEASE: 12.07.10 Cognitively-Impaired Human Research Subjects Need Better Protection
(Garrison, NY) Practices for protecting human research subjects with Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions that make them incapable of giving informed consent are widely variable and in need of more concrete...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 12.07.10 Cognitively-Impaired Human Research Subjects Need Better Protection”
From Bioethics Briefings
Environment, Ethics, and Human Health
Framing the Issue Many of the most challenging ethical questions of our time address interactions between human health and the environment: How can we balance protection for the environment with...From Bioethics Briefings
Public Health Ethics and Law
Framing the Issue The role of public health is to assure the conditions needed to promote and protect people’s health. These conditions include various economic, social, and environmental factors...From Bioethics Briefings
Disaster Planning and Public Health
Framing the Issue Disasters happen. Coping with them and recovering and rebuilding afterward are nothing new. Systematic, evidence-based advance planning and preparedness are more novel, however, and seeing disasters as...From Bioethics Briefings
Abortion
A central philosophical question in the abortion debate concerns the moral status of the embryo and fetus. If the fetus is a person, with the same right to life as any human being who has been born, it would seem that very few, if any, abortions could be justified, because it is not morally permissible to kill children because they are unwanted or illegitimate or disabled. However, the morality of abortion is not settled so straightforwardly. Even if one accepts the argument that the fetus is a person, it does not automatically follow that it has a right to the use of the pregnant woman’s body. Thus, the morality of abortion depends not only on the moral status of the fetus, but also on whether the pregnant woman has an obligation to continue to gestate the fetus.From Bioethics Briefings
Newborn Screening
Framing the Issue State newborn screening programs test nearly all infants born in the United States for selected inherited and congenital conditions that may cause disability or death. Screening is...From Bioethics Briefings
Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice
Framing the Issue Conflict of interest is a broad term to describe situations where professional judgement risks being compromised by secondary interests. Research and clinical care both involve judgment about...Read “Conflict of Interest in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice”
From Bioethics Briefings
Stem Cells
Framing the Issue Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the capacity to renew themselves and to specialize into various cell types, such as blood, muscle, and nerve cells. Embryonic...In the Media
Hastings Scholars in the New Yorker
The New Yorker publishes a letter by Nancy Berlinger and Michael Gusmano about an article on a migrant caregiver and the global ethics questions raised.Expert Contributor
Benedetto Vitiello, MD
Expert Contributor
Arthur Caplan
Bioethics Forum Essay
“Beware the Ides of March” 2.0
The ancients looked to omens and portents to recognize signs of impending death. Today we do not rely on the ominous words of soothsayers, interpreting the entrails of chickens, or...Page
Having Conversations about Organ Donation
While 90 percent of participants in a 2005 Gallup poll indicated that they would donate an organ if asked, only 40 percent of Americans have registered to do so, according...Bioethics Forum Essay
Evaluating Recommendations to Increase Organ Donation
While the U.S. system of organ donation and transplantation is in a state of growth for the fifth year in a row, the call for new strategies to accelerate that...Read “Evaluating Recommendations to Increase Organ Donation”
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MEDIA ADVISORY: 10-13-15 Hastings Center Informs NYC Plan for Immigrant Health Care Access
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to improve health care access for immigrants in the nation’s largest city, incorporating the principal recommendation from The Hastings Center and the New...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 10-13-15 Hastings Center Informs NYC Plan for Immigrant Health Care Access”
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PRESS RELEASE: 07.18.11 New Grant Supports Hastings Work on Ethics of Medical Research with Animals
(Garrison, NY) The Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund awarded The Hastings Center a $159,000 grant to explore the ethical, scientific, and legal issues on using animals in medical research...Hastings Center News
New Project to Expand Research Hub on Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of Advances in Human Genomics
The Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and the Columbia Division of Ethics will lead a five-year expansion of their hub for research on the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI)...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Motivated by Money? The Impact of Financial Incentive for the Research Team on Study Recruitment
Biomedical research is a very competitive arena. Investigators not only compete for internal and external funding for their clinical trials, but also for healthy people or patients to enroll in...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
OHRP Compliance Oversight Letters: An Update
In this article, we describe our review of 235 compliance oversight determination letters that the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) issued to 146 institutions between August 1, 2002, and...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Ideal vs. Real: Revisiting Contraceptive Guidelines
We read, with interest, the lead article in the September-October 2010 issue of IRB: Ethics & Human Research.1 We are grateful to Chris Kaposy and Françoise Baylis for keeping the important issue of the...Our Team
Reed V. Tuckson
Reed V. Tuckson is a co-convener of the Coalition for Trust in Health and Science, which is dedicated to bringing together the entire health-related ecosystem to address mistrust and misinformation....Page
Ethics and Conflicts of Interest
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Conflicts of Interest in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice Financial relationships can create conflicts of interest between researchers’ obligations to abide by...Page
MEDIA ADVISORY: 10.12.10 Seminar on Treating Mental Disorders in Poor and Vulnerable Children
Please join us for an October 15 seminar, Treating Mental Disorders in Poor and Vulnerable Children, co-sponsored by The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute, and Brooklyn Law School’s Center for Health,...Read “MEDIA ADVISORY: 10.12.10 Seminar on Treating Mental Disorders in Poor and Vulnerable Children”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Increasing Common Rule Protections: IRB Consensus, Black Box Warnings, and Risk in Equipoise
On July 26, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published proposed changes to the Common Rule, the federal regulation that governs much of the federally funded...Read “Increasing Common Rule Protections: IRB Consensus, Black Box Warnings, and Risk in Equipoise”
Bioethics Forum Essay
ChatGPT Just Makes Stuff Up: A Conversation on a Controversial Topic
I am currently writing up the results of a retrospective chart review of patients’ consent or refusal for medical students to perform pelvic exams on them when they’re under anesthesia and sedated. I asked ChatGPT to summarize the ethical issues and tell me what sources it used to generate its response.Read “ChatGPT Just Makes Stuff Up: A Conversation on a Controversial Topic”
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Vascular Biology 2015
October 18-22, 2015 Vascular Biology 2015 will deliver presentations in cutting edge research in cardiovascular biology. This unique cross-disciplinary meeting provides distinct perspectives and approaches to what are often common...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Public Comments on Proposed Regulatory Reforms That Would Impact Biospecimen Research: The Good, the Bad, and the Puzzling
In July 2011 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published in theFederal Registeran Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) entitled “Human Subjects Research Protections: Enhancing Protections...Page
Ethics and Organ Transplantation
Selected resources on from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Organ TransplantationThe central philosophical question in organ transplantation is how to ensure a fair and just system for the allocation of...Page
Intensive Bioethics Course
April 11-15, 2016 This 5-day advanced bioethics course is specifically designed for people charged with resolving potentially complex ethical challenges with little ethics training. This unique course emphasizes learning-by-doing where...Page
The Center for ELSI Resources and Analysis (CERA) Human Genomics Research Hub
Principal Investigators: Mildred Cho, Stanford University, and Sandra Soo-Jin Lee, Columbia University Co-Investigator: Josephine Johnston and Nancy Berlinger, The Hastings Center Funder: National Human Genome Research Institute Start date: September 2024...Read “The Center for ELSI Resources and Analysis (CERA) Human Genomics Research Hub”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Waivers and alterations to consent in pragmatic clinical trials: Respecting the principle of respect for persons
Is it ever ethical to conduct a randomized controlled trial (RCT) without consent?1This surprising question is increasingly being asked2owing to great interest in RCTs that compare widely used “standard” treatments...Page
The Ethics of Deliberate Extinction
Principal Investigators: Gregory E. Kaebnick, James Collins Co-Investigator: Athmeya Jayaram Funder: National Science Foundation Start date: August 2023 May we eradicate a species through genome modification strategies? Many of the...Page
Ethical Issues in Genomics
The Hastings Center conducts research and produces public engagement activities on a wide range of ethical questions in genomics. Ethical questions raised by genetics are among the Center’s foundational issues,...Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Organizes Symposium for International Journalism Conference: Ethical Debates on New Genetic Technologies
The Hastings Center is working with the World Conference of Science Journalists to organize a pre-conference symposium, “New Genetic Technologies: Ethical Debates and Global Science Policy.” The 10th World Conference...Hastings Center News
Reed V. Tuckson Joins Hastings Board
The Hastings Center welcomes Reed V. Tuckson, MD, FACP, to its board of directors. Dr. Tuckson is a co-convener of the Coalition for Trust in Health and Science, which is...Page
Ethics and the Genomics
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Genomics, Behavior, and Social Outcomes Within the past decade, sequencing of the human genome and the rapid development of large-scale DNA testing...Page
Ethics and Neonatal Care
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Neonatal Care Advances in the care of critically ill newborns over the last 40 years have resulted in the ability to save...Bioethics Forum Essay
He Jiankui: A Sorry Tale of High-Stakes Science
In response to news of the world’s first babies born in China from gene-edited embryos, Sam Sternberg, a CRISPR/Cas9 researcher at Columbia University, spoke for many when he said “I’ve...Page
Ethics & Human Research
Ethics & Human Research (formerly IRB: Ethics & Human Research) aims to foster critical analysis of issues in science and health care that have implications for human biomedical and behavioral...Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Welcomes 2024 Fellows
The Hastings Center is pleased to announce the election of the 2024 fellows. Hastings Center fellows are a group of about 300 individuals of outstanding accomplishment whose work has informed...Page
Bioethics and Torture
Selected resources from The Hastings Center. Bioethics Briefings: Torture: The Bioethics Perspective Torture is the intentional infliction of physical or psychological harm by a public official working in an official...Page
Media Advisory: Precaution and Governance of Emerging Technologies
Precautionary approaches to governance of emerging technology, which call for constraints on the use of technology whose potential harms and other outcomes are highly uncertain, are often criticized for reflecting...Read “Media Advisory: Precaution and Governance of Emerging Technologies”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Including Persons with Alzheimer Disease in Research on Comorbid Conditions
Alzheimer disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects 4.5 million people in the United States, with the number expected to rise dramatically over the next fifty years due to...Read “Including Persons with Alzheimer Disease in Research on Comorbid Conditions”
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Transcript | Vaccine Access, Vaccine Hesitancy: Challenges to Herd Immunity
A HASTINGS CENTER CONVERSATION WITH RHEA BOYD, MAYA GOLDENBERG, AND MILDRED SOLOMON The Hastings Center hosted “Vaccine Access, Vaccine Hesitancy: Challenges to Herd Immunity,” an online discussion of the ethical issues related...Read “Transcript | Vaccine Access, Vaccine Hesitancy: Challenges to Herd Immunity”
IRB: Ethics & Human Research
Reformed Consent: Adapting to New Media and Research Participant Preferences
The principle of respect for persons clearly demands that investigators communicate with potential research participants in a way that fosters comprehension of the information relevant to deciding whether to enroll...Read “Reformed Consent: Adapting to New Media and Research Participant Preferences”
Bioethics Forum Essay
Health Workers as Pawns of Warfare
Last week, NPR reported a major humanitarian group’s decision to stop treating patients from detention centers in Misrata, Libya. According tothe report,“torture was so rampant that some detainees were brought...Bioethics Forum Essay
Businesses, Guns, and Human Rights
The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., resulted in the deaths of 17 people. Tragically, from January 1 to March 21, 2018, there were 3,088...IRB: Ethics & Human Research
A Consent Form Template for Phase I Oncology Trials
Download Consent Form Template (Spanish) The two primary components of the consent process for research are a consent form and a discussion between the investigator and the potential research participant....Page
PRESS RELEASE: 10-15-15 New in the Hastings Center Report
Emotion and reason in the enhancement debate, questions about gene editing, and more in the September-October 2015 issue. Don’t Mind the Gap: Intuitions, Emotions, and Reasons in the Enhancement Debate Alberto...Read “PRESS RELEASE: 10-15-15 New in the Hastings Center Report”
Hastings Center News
Hastings Center Cofounder Willard Gaylin (1925-2022)
Willard Gaylin, an acclaimed psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and a pioneering scholar in bioethics who co-founded The Hastings Center, died on December 30. He was 97.From Bioethics Briefings
Brain Injury: Neuroscience and Neuroethics
Framing the Issue The national conversation over Terri Schiavo illustrated how questions about severe brain injury became central to the past decade’s most convulsive bioethics debate. As is well appreciated...From Bioethics Briefings
Conscience Clauses, Health Care Providers, and Parents
Framing the Issue Conscientious objection in health care is the refusal of a health care professional to provide or participate in the delivery of a legal, medically appropriate health care...Read “Conscience Clauses, Health Care Providers, and Parents”
From Bioethics Briefings
Law Enforcement and Genetic Data
Framing the Issue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC8rd6onHts Watch “Law Enforcement and Genetic Data: A Discussion for Journalists” with writer Sarah Zhang at The Atlantic, Ellen Wright Clayton, an internationally recognized leader in the...From Bioethics Briefings
Biobanks: DNA and Research
Framing the Issue With recent advances in molecular biology, human biospecimens have become enormously valuable for medical researchers. Biospecimens such as blood, surgical tissue, saliva, and urine contain genetic material...Our Team
Lourena De Abreu
Lourena De Abreu joined The Hastings Center in April 2025. She is currently completing a master’s degree in bioethics at Harvard Medical School. She graduated from Howard University in 2023,...Our Team
Sana Baban
Sana Baban joined The Hastings Center in June 2023. She received her MBE from Harvard Medical School and BA in communication sciences and disorders from the University of South Florida.During...Our Team
Ava Randel
Ava Randel joined The Hastings Center in April 2025. Before coming to the Center, she taught ethics as an adjunct faculty member at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Montclair...Our Team
Virginia A. Brown
Virginia A. Brown is a research scholar in social justice and population health. She joined The Hastings Center for Bioethics in September 2023 from the University of Texas at Austin...Our Team
Ryan Sauder
Ryan Sauder joined The Hastings Center in 2020 as chief advancement officer and became chief strategy and advancement officer in 2024. Working with a talented team, he oversees fundraising and...Our Team
Gregory E. Kaebnick
Gregory E. Kaebnick explores questions about the values at stake in developing and using biotechnologies and, particularly, in questions about the value given to nature and human nature. He is...Bioethics Forum Essay
Daniel Callahan – A Remembrance
Our Team
Karen J. Maschke
Karen Maschke has expertise on the ethical, regulatory and policy issues involving the development, assessment, and use of new biomedical technologies. She is the editor-in-chief of The Hastings Center for Bioethics’s...Our Team
Thomas H. Murray
Thomas H. Murray was president of The Hastings Center for Bioethics from 1999 to 2012. He was formerly the director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics in the School of...From Bioethics Briefings
Climate Change
Framing the Issue No issue demands greater care in balancing benefits and risks than responding to the threat of global climate change. Data indicate that global surface temperatures have risen...Our Team
Susan Gilbert
Susan Gilbert is the director of communications of The Hastings Center and editor of Hastings Bioethics Forum. Before joining The Hastings Center in 2007, she was an editorial consultant and...Our Team
Briana Lopez-Patino
Briana Lopez-Patino joined The Hastings Center in August 2023. She received her BA from Binghamton University with a major in philosophy. She was a research assistant in the Human Sexualities...Our Team
Laura Haupt
Laura Haupt, with Gregory Kaebnick, edits the Hastings Center Report. She is also a consulting editor for Ethics & Human Research. From 2013 until 2024, she was the managing editor...Our Team
Nora Porter
Nora Porter has been the Center’s art director for the past 20 years. She is responsible for the design of the Center’s publications, promotional and development materials, and website graphics....Our Team
Siofra Vizzi
Siofra Vizzi joined the Hastings Center in 2010 as the development assistant and became manager of individual giving and special events in 2016. She also serves as the in-house photographer...Our Team
Jodi Fernandes
Jodi Fernandes has been with The Hastings Center since 1998 in administrative support roles that have spanned various departments including research, development, and finance, in addition to having primary responsibilities...Our Team
Vivian Steinberger
Vivian Steinberger joined the Hastings Center as the senior accountant in May 2025. She has more than a decade of experience in finance and accounting. Her background spans a range...Our Team
Mildred Z. Solomon
Mildred Solomon has an international reputation for her research on, and advocacy for, wiser health care and science policy. She was President of The Hastings Center from 2012 to June...Our Team
Julia Kolak
Julia Kolak works at the intersection of the philosophy of medicine and bioethics, with a focus on the conceptual frameworks underlying disease identification and classification, and their impact on medical...Our Team
Emily Sanders
Emily Sanders joined The Hastings Center as grants manager in April 2024. She spent approximately nine years as dean of strategic integrations and initiatives at Madison Area Technical College, where...Bioethics Forum Essay
Ethics at the Chocolate Factory
Two women are being trained for work on a factory assembly line. As products arrive on a conveyor belt, their task is to wrap each product and place it back...Our Team
Ian Stevens
Ian Stevens joined The Hastings Center in June 2024. Before coming to Hastings, he was a research assistant in Oregon Health & Science University’s Human Electrophysiology Lab. He graduated from...Our Team
Carolyn P. Neuhaus
Carolyn P. Neuhaus explores philosophical and ethical questions that arise throughout biomedical research and medical practice, from the philosophical foundations of the use of animals in biomedical research to the development...Our Team
Vardit Ravitsky
Vardit Ravitsky, PhD, is the President and CEO of The Hastings Center for Bioethics, an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute that is among the most prestigious bioethics and health policy...Our Team
Carol O’Reilly
Our Team
Faith Wershba
Faith joined The Hastings Center in August 2024. She graduated from the University of Toronto in 2023 with a double major in human biology and immunology and a minor in...Our Team
Bethany Brumbaugh
Our Team
Richa Venkatraman
Richa joined the Hastings Center in May 2025. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2022 with a Master of Science in Biology and Society. Her master’s thesis explored how...Our Team
Chelsea Lopez
Chelsea joined The Hastings Center in 2024 in a new position in which she helps manage all aspects of fundraising, communications, and public engagement. She spent nearly 10 years as the...Our Team
Danielle Pacia
Danielle M. Pacia focuses on bioethics topics related to individualized therapies, community health, and the ever-changing landscape of reproductive health care in the United States. She is interested in high-level...From Bioethics Briefings
Nature, Human Nature, and Biotechnology
Framing the Issue From genetically modified foods to assisted reproduction to gene drives, an increasing number of social debates feature moral views about nature—claims, that is, that a naturally occurring...Expert Contributor
Erika Blacksher, PhD
Our Team
Julie Chibbaro
Julie Chibbaro is a long-time teacher, mentor, and editor. She is the author of three novels, and numerous short stories and articles. Her books have won the American Book Award, the...From Bioethics Briefings
Ethical Drug Pricing
Framing the Issue Many prescription drugs are prohibitively expensive. In the United States, brand-name prescription drug prices are higher than in other wealthy countries. New variants of drugs for...Expert Contributor
Michele S. Garfinkel, PhD
Expert Contributor
Gerald L. Epstein, PhD
Expert Contributor
Robert M. Friedman, PhD
Expert Contributor
Mark S. Frankel
Expert Contributor
Cristina J. Kapustij
Expert Contributor
Carol Levine
Expert Contributor
Lynn Friss Feinberg, MSW
Expert Contributor
Myra Glajchen, DSW
Expert Contributor
Jennifer McGuirl
In the Media
What Are Key Theories and Issues in Bioethics?
Josephine Johnston, The Hastings Center’s director of research, and Elizabeth Dietz, a project manager and research assistant, compiled essential readings in the field of bioethics for JSTOR Daily, including topics...In the Media
CRISPR Craze — Albino Lizards Gene-Edited
Speaking to PBS's NOVA , Hastings Center research scholar Carolyn Neuhaus said scientists shouldn't keep using CRISPR gene editing technology on new species "just because it's there"Expert Contributor
Donald M. Berwick, MD
In the Media
What Does the New Religious Exemptions Law Mean for Your Health Care?
Hastings Center scholar Nancy Berlinger told the PBS NewsHour that conscience objections by health care providers, which were expanded under regulations finalized in early May by the Department of Health and Human Services, can lead to certain medical procedures becoming stigmatized, leading to worse treatment or deterring patients from seeking treatment at all.Read “What Does the New Religious Exemptions Law Mean for Your Health Care?”
Expert Contributor
Eric G. Campbell, PhD
