Ethics parallel research: an approach for (early) ethical guidance of biomedical innovation.

Journal: BMC medical ethics
PMID:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Our human societies and certainly also (bio) medicine are more and more permeated with technology. There seems to be an increasing awareness among bioethicists that an effective and comprehensive approach to ethically guide these emerging biomedical innovations into society is needed. Such an approach has not been spelled out yet for bioethics, while there are frequent calls for ethical guidance of biomedical innovation, also by biomedical researchers themselves. New and emerging biotechnologies require anticipation of possible effects and implications, meaning the scope is not evaluative after a technology has been fully developed or about hypothetical technologies, but real-time for a real biotechnology.

Authors

  • Karin R Jongsma
    Department of Medical Humanities, University Medical Center Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. kjongsma@umcutrecht.nl.
  • Annelien L Bredenoord
    Department of Medical Humanities, University Medical Center Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.