Ethics Articles

Bioethics

The Cost of Dying and Moral Choices at the End of Life

Podcast of a talk on the ethics of end-of-life decision making
Lisa Krieger

The New Digital Divide

In this brief video, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and innovator Kim Polese addresses the new digital divide--between those who have high-speed wired broadband access to the Internet in their homes, and those who don't.
Kim Polese

Mobile Technology and Social Media - Ethical Implications

In emerging markets in particular, mobile devices and social media have become ?life tools??used for telemedicine, banking, education, communication, and more. These developments give rise to new ethical challenges.
Radha Basu

Privacy Tradeoffs Online

NetApp's Executive Chairman Dan Warmenhoven discusses the development of GPS-tracking technology and the ethical issues associated with the aggregation of GPS data into large databases.
Dan Warmenhoven

Kidneys for Sale: A Reconsideration

Ethical issues in a market for human organs
Miriam Schulman

Football, Concussions, and Character (podcast)

Fox Sports analyst Pereira explores whether the rules have caught up with the game of football
Mike Pereira

Spark of Conscience Inflames Debate: Conscientious Refusals in Health Care

A conference held at Santa Clara University November 2011exploring conscientious refusals in health care
no author

A Case of Conscientious Refusal: Rights and Responsibilities

A Pharmacist Refuses to Fill a Prescription for Contraception.
Margaret R. McLean

Body Image in Sports: What No One Seems to be Talking About

The problem of eating disorders for college athletes
Matt Savage

Down So Long: Helping a Friend With Depression

Megan struggles to deal with her friend and college roommate's depression.
Jake Teeny

Ethical Responsibilities of Hospital Trustees

Presentation to 2012 annual member Governance Conference of Premier Inc., one the two largest health care group purchasing organizations in the country.
Kirk O. Hanson

Keeping Track of Mom

Ethical challenges in using motion sensor-based technology to monitor the elderly
Courtenay Bruce

When a Physician Refuses to Transfer a Patient to Hospice

A Q&A about recourse for a patient whose doctor does not wish to facilitate hospice care.
Margaret R. McLean

Unavoidable Dilemmas in Bioscience

Center Bioethics Director McLean raises top ethical problems facing scientists and offers a framework for addressing them.
Margaret R. McLean

10 Milligrams (video)

Prize winning video on the use of study drugs on college campuses. From The Big Q contest for films on student ethics
Nicole Grazioli, Tara Khalilnaji, Jen LaPonte

Adderall=Cheating?

The ethics of taking study drugs. Entry in The Big Q contest for films on student ethics
Robyn Louie

Media's Effects on Body Image (video)

Commercials, movies, impact body image for students. Entry in The Big Q contest for films on student ethics
Kathryn Klein, Caitlin Whalen, Kristina Woodcock

Biotechnology and Ethics Class (video)

Students learn the science, social impact, and ethics behind advances in biotechnology

Evolving Vaccine Trials: Adaptive Informed Consent in the Global Context

Challenges of insuring that participants in the developing world understand clinical trials and consent freely
Brenda Everling

Thinking Ethically About MRSA

A set of materials on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus for high school and college coaches, trainers, and athletic directors

MRSA: Best Ethical Practices (pdf)

Core ethical concerns for prevention and management of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Margaret R. McLean

An Ethics Case About Managing MRSA: Stage 1

The ethical issues at various stages of an outbreak of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Jack Penner

Thinking Ethically about MRSA

Combatting MRSA, a virulent, antibiotic-resistant staph infection, is a serious medical challenge for coaches and trainers. Spread mostly by skin-to-skin contact, the bacteria can easily be passed from one player to another on the field or in the locker room. But implementing best practices for preventing the infection also has an ethical side: It takes moral courage to bench a star player because he or she is infected.

HIV Vaccine Development: A Call for Justice

The case for vaccine development as the best approach to the HIV/AIDS pandemic
Erin Cleveland

Outbreak: Discussion Module

Materials on developing pharmaceuticals for the Developing World, based on the case, The Outbreak, on this Web site.
Kari Kjos

Taking Stock of Neglected Diseases

Only 10 percent of global health research is dedicated to conditions responsible for 90 percent of the worldwide burden of disease.
Kari Kjos

Unavoidable Ethical Dilemmas of Pandemic Flu

Questions for policy makers preparing for pandemics
Kirk O. Hanson

Be Not Afraid: Catholic Views of Advanced Care Planning

Clergy and religious comment on end-of-life directives
Miriam Schulman

Hospital's Ethical Obligation to the Uninsured

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Nick Welter

Duty of the Physician to an Uninsured Patient

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Ella Sanman

The Case of Madisyn Whitfield: Chronic Illness and the Uninsured

A young woman suffering from Crohn's disease cannot afford treatment.
Anna Kozas

Role of Friends in a Medical Emergency

Reflection on the case of a patient with Crohn's disease
Richelle Neal

Importance of Relationships in the Case of Gabriela Rivera

A physician and president of Cross Cultural Health Care Concepts reflects on the case of a Latino family facing end-of-life decisions.
John Silva

Honzel Fellowship in Health Care Ethics

New gift supports undergraduate student in health care and bioethics

From Chronic to Critical: A Latino Family Confronts End-of-Life Decisions

A case study of an elderly Puerto Rican immigrant to the United States suffering from the effects of diabetes.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Palliative Care: An Ethical Obligation

SCU senior honors thesis argues that the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence require that hospitals, in addition to clinicians, offer palliative care
Stephanie C. Paulus

A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences

A case about Undocumented Parents and a Difficult Birth
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences - Reflections by Rebecca J. Hester

Response to a case study A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences
Rebecca J. Hester

Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences - Reflections by Nayamin Martinez

Response to a case study A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences
Nayamin Martinez

Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences - Reflections by Karen Peterson-Iyer

Response to a case study A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences - Reflections by Marc Tunzi

Response to a case study A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences
Marc Tunzi

Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences - Reflections by Marc Tunzi

Response to a case study A Difficult Birth: Navigating Language and Cultural Differences
Marc Tunzi

Culturally Competent Care for Latino Patients: Introduction

An introduction to Culturally Competent Care for Latino Patients
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Church Autonomy in Medical Ethical Decision Making

An SCU student reflects on artificial nutrition and hydration for patients in a persistent vegetative state
Nicole Van Groningen

Pharmacogenomics, Ethics, and Public Policy

How personalized medicine can develop in a way that promotes the good of both individuals and the broader society
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Relationship Between Physicians and Patients

Chair of the President's Council on Bioethics Edmund Pellegrino discusses the conflicts that can arise between patient autonomy and the personal beliefs of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists
Miriam Schulman

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Abdelmalek Yamani

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Abdelmalek Yamani

Pandemic Influenza Ethics Tool

Ethical issues to consider in preparing for a pandemic, prepared for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department
Margaret R. McLean

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Karen Peterson-Iyer

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate

A case study of how cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflection by Doha Raik Hamza

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Doha Raik Hamza

Cancer: A Failure to Communicate - Reflections by Dr. Sheik Hassan and Dr. Hossam E. Fadel

Response to a case study where cultural misunderstandings interfere with medical care for a cancer patient.
Dr. Sheik Hassan and Dr. Hossam E. Fadel

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality

A case study raising issues of culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Introduction to Culturally Competent Care

Background on how cultural differences affect the provision of care in a clinical setting
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Culturally Competent Care for Muslim Patients: Introduction to Cases and Reflections

Background on the specific ethical issues involved in providing culturally competent care to Muslim patients.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Doha Raik Hamza

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Doha Raik Hamza

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Sheik N. Hassan and Hossam E. Fadel

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Sheik N. Hassan and Hossam E. Fadel

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Karen Peterson-Iyer

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Confronting a Fetal Abnormality: Reflections by Abdelmalek Yamani

Response to a case raising issues in culturally competent health care for a Muslim woman.
Abdelmalek Yamani

Balancing Nonprofit Interests

Should an HIV/AIDS program focus on prevention or treatment?
Jessica Silliman

Ethics, Autonomy and the Treatment of Tuberculosis in Impoverished Patients in India

Undergraduate research addressing problems in applying the ethical principle of autonomy to contagious disease.
Kelsey Whittier

Medical Ethics Meets Organizational Ethics

Lessons from both clinical and business ethics apply in a hospital context.

With Health Care and Justice for All

Catholic social teaching and the ethics of access to health care.
Margaret R. McLean

'G' Is for Genes and Genomes

Genetic testing poses ethical problems for individuals who may learn they have an illness for which there is no treatment.
Margaret R. McLean

'H' Is for Heredity and Huntington's

An introduction to the ethics of genetic counseling and genetic testing.
Margaret R. McLean

'I' Is for Information

an introduction to confidentiality and informed consent.
By Margaret R. McLean

'J' Is for Justice

What principles should guide the distribution of scarce medical resources such as organs for transplant?
Margaret R. McLean

ABC

An introduction to basic issues in health care ethics.
Margaret R. Mclean

'C' Is for Compassionate and Caring Community

An introduction to the virtue of compassion in a health care context.
Margaret R. McLean

'D' Is for Discussions, Decisions, and Directives

End-of-life decisions are aided by advance discussions and directives.
Margaret R. McLean

'E' Is for Everyday Ethics

While the big issues like cloning or end-of-life treatment may catch the headlines, we deal with important ethical issues every day.
Margaret R. McLean

'F' Is for the Future

A discussion of consequences as an approach to ethics in a health care context
Margaret R. McLean

Personalized Medicine: The Ethics of Access

Pharmacogenomics sparks new therapeutic possibilities and new threats to the U.S. health care system.
Karen Peterson-Iyer

Pandemic Ethics

Questions for health care institutions about preparing ethically for a disaster.
Margaret R. McLean

Medical Decision Making for Publicly Conserved Individuals: Policy Recommendations

Analysis of problems confronting public guardians making end-of-life care decisions.
Theresa Drought

End-of-Life Decision Making: Case 1

A physician has questions for a public guardian in charge of the medical care for a conserved patient.
Elizabeth Menkin

End-of-Life Decision Making: Case 1

A physician has questions for a public guardian in charge of the medical care for a conserved patient.
Elizabeth Menkin

End-of-Life Decision Making: Case 2

A public guardian must make decisions for a 78 year-old woman with severe dementia, and multiple illnesses.
Elizabeth Menkin

End-of-Life Decision Making: Case 2

A public guardian must make decisions for a 78 year-old woman with severe dementia, and multiple illnesses.
Elizabeth Menkin

Reading List on End-of-Life Decision Making

A bibliography on legal, ethical, and medical aspects of end-of-life decisions.

Assisted Suicide: A Right or a Wrong?

An examination of the ethical issues in physician-assisted death.
Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez

The Case of the Depressed Patient

A doctor must decide if a patient's decision to stop dialysis is motivated by depression.
Melinda Lee

Schiavo Case and the Future of Ethics at the End of Life

Notes from a presentation on the ethical issues raised by the Terri Schiavo case
Gerald Coleman, S.S. and Lawrence Nelson

Don't Take Your Organs to Heaven

An analysis of the ethical issues in organ donation
Margaret R. McLean

The Outbreak

This fictionalized case addresses the ethical issues confronting governments, NGOs, and pharmaceutical companies when faced with an epidemic.
Kirk O. Hanson

Dying with Dignity

The president of St. Patrick's Seminary looks at the political and moral debate about physician-assisted suicide.
Gerald D. Coleman, S.S.

Future of Food: An Introduction to the Ethical Issues in Genetically Modified Foods

Center Director of Biotechnology and Health Care Ethics Margaret R. McLean looks at the future of genetically modified food.
Margaret R. McLean

Pharmaceutical Decisions in Response to Epidemics: A Case Study

A video presentation, from the Ethics Center Conference, "The Future of Pharmaceuticals," which was held Oct. 3, 2003.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Medical Decision Making for Conserved Patients: When There Is No One to Decide

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has recommended a pilot study for implementating five recommendations concerning medical decision making for conserved patients.

Future of Food

The Center's annual biotechnology conference.

Stem Cells, Moral Status, and California Proposition 71

Gerald D. Coleman, SS, professor of moral theology at St. Patrick's Seminary, and Lawrence Nelson, Santa Clara University lecturer in philosophy discussed stem cells, moral status, and California Proposition 71, exploring the controversy over the ethical implications of stem cell research.
Margaret McLean, Gerald D. Coleman, SS, Lawrence

Brief Case for the Moral Permissibility of Stem Cell Research

The central questions regarding the ethics of stem cell research are 2 in number: One, do embryos have any moral status, entities that deserve moral respect and are owed some duty? Two, if embryos have some moral status, what kind, or degree, of respect are they entitled to and what particular duties are they owed by moral agents?
Lawrence J. Nelson

Notes on Proposition 71

Notes on California Proposition 71, "The Embryo Cloning and Stem Research Bond Act," offering a moral compass to guide us through these concerns.
Gerald D. Coleman, S.S.

Cases in Medical Ethics: Student-Led Discussions

A selection of medical ethics cases designed to help determine whether medicine is the correct calling for pre-medical students.
Chris Cirone

Steroids and Sports: The Ethics of Winning

Steroid use by athletes is a form of cheating.
Michael Dillingham

Neuroethics: The Neuroscience Revolution, Ethics, and the Law

When science expands our understanding of something so central to human existence, these advances will necessarily cause changes in both our society and its laws. This paper seeks to forecast and explore the social and legal changes that neuroscience might bring in four areas: prediction, litigation, confidentiality and privacy, and patents.
Hank Greely

Gruesome tests on cadavers betray donors

We need a national system that eliminates for-profit middlemen and offers complete and accurate information to donors and their families about how donated bodies and parts might be used.
Michael Meyer

Politics and Science

Whatever one's view on the stem cell debate, good ethical thinking is never the result of compliance. It involves rigorous consideration of possible actions, not capitulation to a prefabricated conclusion, political or otherwise.
Margaret R. McLean

Stem Cells in the Treatment of Diabetes: Therapeutic Potential and Ethical Considerations

Catherine Mastroieni

Xenotransplantation: Weighing Individual Benefit and Risks to the Public

Welcome to the world of xenotransplantation, where healthy animal organs are swapped for failing human organs.
Margaret R. McLean

Short People

Implications of the FDA decision to allow the use of human growth hormone to treat short stature of unknown origin.
Miriam Schulman

Listening Behind the Questions: How Experts Can Improve the Public Discourse on Gene Patenting

Important ethical issues lie behind popular concerns about genetics.
Miriam Schulman

Framework for Thinking Ethically About Human Biotechnology

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics Framework is applied to issues in biotech.
Margaret R. McLean

Homeland Health Security

The SARS epidemic should convince us to prepare for the terror of disease-bearing microbes.
Margaret R. McLean

Doctor-Patient Confidentiality

Letter to the editor of the New York Times.
Rob Elder

Friends don't let friends starve themselves

A student reflects on the ethical duties to friends who have eating disorders.
Meg Parker

Minority Patients Need Culture Brokers

Cultural differences must be taken into account in providing medical care.
Margaret R. McLean and Margaret A. Graham

Of SNPS, TRIPS, and Human Dignity: Ethics and Gene Patenting

Report on a Center conference about the law and ethics of gene patenting.
Miriam Schulman

Is smallpox the real threat?

Post 9/11, we focus on protecting ourselves against a biological assault, but our crumbling health care infrastructure is a more immediate danger.
Margaret R. McLean

Persistent Indeterminate State: Reflections on the Wendland Case

One of the lawyers in this precedent-setting end-of-life case discusses who should make decisions for incompetent patients.
Lawrence J. Nelson

Tough Talk: Finding the Words for Living With Loss

Guidelines for discussion of end-of-life issues.
Dale G. Larson

Last Things

Introduction to a collection of articles on end-of-life ethics.

Reluctant Realism

Research on attitudes toward end-of-life issues in the San Jose Hispanic community.
Margaret R. McLean and Margaret A. Graham

Bargain

Bargaining with God about death.
Miriam Schulman

Blanket of Peace

A student reflects on her first experience dealing with death in her co-curricular work at O'Connor Hospital.
Maliheh Movassat

Caring to the End

Ethics for caregivers.
William C. Spohn

Red Light, Green Light: The California Cloning and Stem Cell Laws

A report on California laws responding to the State's Advsiory Committee on Human Cloning.
Margaret R. McLean

Russian Hostage Rescue Shows the Danger of 'non-lethal' Weapons

Ethical issues in the deployment of supposedly non-lethal weapons.
Margaret R. McLean and S.L. Bachman

Respecting What We Destroy

A framework for looking at the moral standing of stem cells.
Michael J. Meyer and Lawrence J. Nelson

Secret Behind Lower Teen Pregnancy

The determination of the African-American community to combat teen births, and the success that concerted community action has had in transforming child-bearing behavior.
June Carbone

Shhhhhhh, Don't Tell

What should a physical therapist do when she suspects that her patient isn't being entirely honest with his physician?
Wolfe, Smith, McLean, Shanks

We've Got You Covered

Covering for an incompetent RN creates problems for patients.
Wolfe, Williams, Smith, Silvestri, McLean

You Are What You Eat

Personal responsibility in maintaining good health.
Miriam Schulman

Does Old Age Make Suicide Ethical?

Ethical considerations regarding suicide for the terminally ill.
Rob Elder

Should Violent Felons Receive Organ Transplants?

Reflection on the decision to grant a California prisoner a heart transplant.
David Perry

National Ethics Agenda

The Ethics Agenda was developed by the Emerging Issues Program of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. Through this program, the Center provides timely analysis and opinion on ethical issues in the news.
Elder, Hanson, Schulman, McLean, Perry, Carbone

Ethics and Personhood: Some Issues in Contemporary Neurological Science and Technology

David Perry

Double or Nothing

A discussion of cloning from scientific, ethical, and religious perspectives.
Robins K. Sterns

Awareness Is Not Enough: Gender in the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa

The role of gender inequality in the spread of AIDs in Africa.
Charlotte Vallaeys

Healing The Wounds that Never Heal

A medical researcher struggles with access to experimental procedures for patients with Epidermolysis Bullosa.
Alfred Lane, M.D.

When What We Know Outstrips What We Can Do

Our genes contain information that scientists hope will help in the treatment of many diseases. Huntington's dissease provides a window on the choices we face as medicine increases our ability to intervene in human genetics.
Margaret R. McLean

Cloning

This paper discusses the significant ethical and moral questions intertwined in this "scientific" achievement of cloning by speaking with SCU campus experts in biology, medicine, religious studies, patent law, engineering, technology, agriculture, and ethics.
Robin K. Sterns

Cloning: Just Because We Can, Should We?

"If we can, we will" is a dangerous motto for medicine.
Margaret Mclean

Who Gets Seen

Access issues in health care.
Peter Facione and Noreen Facione

Law of Advanced Directives

Legal Documents Can Ease End-of-Life Decisions
Karen Markus

Aid in Dying

A discussion of physician-assisted death.
Michael J. Meyer

Confronting the Ultimate Questions

Advance Directives give patients a voice when they can't speak for themselves.
Margaret McLean

Life and Death With Dignity: Editor's Note

Introduction to end-of-life questions
Miriam Schulman

The Sole Remaining Supplier

What are the ethical questions involved when a company is the only supplier of a high-risk, life-saving product?
Thomas Shanks

Challenging the Conception of Care in Nursing

Review of Helga Kuhse's book, Caring: Nurses, Women and Ethics
David Perry

Global Distribution of AIDS Pharmaceuticals

Ethical issues in the distribution of AIDS drugs, especially in the developing world.
David Perry

'A' is for Autonomy

A brief definition of autonomy as viewed in the context of medical ethics.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

California Cloning: The Ethics of Human Cloning and Stem Cell Research

Report on a Center conference on the state regulation of cloning.
MCAE

'B' is for Beneficience (and Baseball)

A brief description of beneficence in a medial context.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

Life and Death and the Applied Ethics Center at O'Connor

Durable power of attorney for health care.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

Are you Lost or Something?

A discussion of virtues in a hospital context.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

The Long Distance Cancer Treatment

Does an HMO have a responsibility to provide care at the closest possible medical center?
Thomas Shanks

Physician's Role in Organ/Tissue Donation

What are the ethical questions involved when asked to help out an illegal immigrant in desperate need of help?
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

Prescribing Under the Influence

The impact of gifts from drug companies to physicians.
E. Haavi Morreim

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

An exploration of the ethics of genetically modified foods.
Miriam Schulman

Memories

In ethics, how we decide is just as important as what we decide
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

Happy Birthday!

Ethics in a hospital context.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

Questions Anyone?

Questions facing a professional ethicist.
Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D.

The Acupuncture Alternative

Do physicians have a duty to refer patients to alternative forms of therapy?
Anh Tran, S.J.