An intensive care unit is a place where life is maintained with the help of advanced medical equipment. But it is also a place where life sometimes ends. In cases where it becomes clear that life-sustaining care is no longer meaningful, but should be changed into end-of-life care, the healthcare staff has a particularly great […]
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Global health discussions have, in recent years, made a point of involving young people. Conferences feature youth panels, international organisations hold youth consultations, and most major health strategies now list youth engagement as a priority. All in all, it seems only fair, given that the challenges being debated today (for instance, pandemic preparedness and management, […]
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The fourth most common form of cancer in Sweden is colorectal cancer. The disease can be linked to both heredity and environmental factors, and to individual lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking, obesity, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and eating habits (high intake of red and processed meat; low intake of fruit, vegetables, fibers and calcium). […]
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Fear can easily play tricks on us thinking beings. When we are afraid of something, we often think that we should worry about it – so as not to lose control of it. So, to be on the safe side, we lie awake half the night thinking. We dare not let go of our thoughts, […]
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Research involving humans requires ethical review. Ethical review is important to protect the rights and interests of research participants, and to maintain public trust in research. Ethical review was originally developed for biomedical research where it is common to recruit patients as test subjects, for example in clinical drug trials. In Sweden, a central authority […]
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“Consciousness” is an ambiguous concept that arouses the interest of people with different expertise, including the general public. This situation naturally creates several related ambiguities, for example about how consciousness should be understood scientifically and how we can explain it. Not least, it creates uncertainties about how we can translate the scientific knowledge we have […]
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A vital tool for ensuring and improving quality in healthcare is clinical guidelines. Guidelines are used to support the clinicians’ memory and evidence-based decision-making, as well as to guide the choice of investigations and treatments toward the most cost-efficient alternatives. Increased control over healthcare costs is also given higher priority as a larger proportion of […]
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As patients, we are used to providing samples so that the physician can make a diagnosis and prognosis and choose treatment. But it is becoming more common for physicians to also order genomic tests in order to make the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment even more individualized. Even common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and […]
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Caring for children with cancer involves more than just medical cancer treatment. Nurses are responsible for a wide range of nursing tasks. They discuss the disease and treatment with children and parents, monitor children’s nutritional needs, give pain treatment, insert catheters, care for wounds and much more. These nursing tasks are associated with varying degrees […]
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Humans are good at solving problems. But solutions also cause unforeseen problems. The latter problems can be more difficult to understand because they are so close to us: we do not see how we ourselves create them through our solutions. A person who feels that no one smiles at her may be unaware of how […]
Continue readingTHE ETHICS BLOG
A research blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)
We write for researchers, healthcare staff, officials, politicians, patient organisations and anyone interested in ethics.
We comment on the research ethics and bioethics debate and discuss our own research. We address issues from current debates in the research community and in the press.
MEET THE EDITOR
Pär Segerdahl is editor of the Ethics Blog and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics.