A Draft Model Aggregated Code of Ethics for Bioethicists

Bioethicists function in an environment in which their peers—healthcare executives, lawyers, nurses, physicians—assert the integrity of their fields through codes of professional ethics. Is it time for bioethics to assert its integrity by developing a code of ethics? Answering in the affirmative, this paper lays out a case by reviewing the historical nature and function of professional codes of ethics. Arguing that professional codes are aggregative enterprises growing in response to a field's historical experiences, it asserts that bioethics now needs to assert its integrity and independence and has already developed a body of formal statements that could be aggregated to create a comprehensive code of ethics for bioethics. A Draft Model Aggregated Code of Ethics for Bioethicists is offered in the hope that analysis and criticism of this draft code will promote further discussion of the nature and content of a code of ethics for bioethicists.     

Bioethics' Gender

I argue that the field of bioethics is gendered feminine, but that the methods it uses to resist this gender identity pose real harm to actual women. Starting with an explanation of what I take ‘gender’ to be, I enumerate four drawbacks to being gendered feminine. I then argue that bioethics suffers from three of the same four drawbacks. I show how the field escapes the fourth disadvantage by adopting a masculine persona that inflicts damage on women, and conclude by urging bioethicists to reflect on their complicity in abusive power systems such as gender, race and class.     

Neuroethics and National Security

This essay considers the potential role of bioethics in disaster response planning and preparedness. Bioethicists can make substantial contributions, by ensuring that decision-making and distribution of resources during crises is carried out in a fair and just manner, as well as by examining the assumptions upon which disaster planning are based. Bioethicists should also be aware of potential pitfalls of overly-hasty engagement with this new field.     

Lessons in Conflict of Interest: The Construction of the Martyrdom of David Healy and The Dilemma of Bioethics

Bioethics journals have lagged behind medical and science journals in exploring the threat of conflict of interest (COI) to the integrity of publications. Some recent discussions of COI that have occurred in the bioethics literature are reviewed. Discussions of what has been termed the “Healy affair” unintentionally demonstrate that the direct and indirect influence of undisclosed COI may come from those who call for protection from the undue influence of industry. Paradoxically, the nature and tone of current discussions may serve to dull sensitivities to what is indeed a serious set of issues facing bioethics. Some proposals are presented to address COI and other challenges to the integrity of bioethics and its journals. COI is too important a topic to be left to ideologues, and there is no substitute for readers' caution and skepticism as tools in dealing with the full range of biases that exist in published papers.     

On Hope and Hard Choices

In Handle with Care (2009), novelist Jodi Picoult presents a heartbreaking case involving the question of wrongful birth. This essay examines Ronald M. Green's writings in the field of bioethics to see what wisdom they might bring to this case. I argue that Green's contributions to bioethics exemplify some of the best of ethical argumentation: attention to facts, discernment of morally relevant differences, enunciation and justification of principles, originality, and compassion. I then draw from his work three foci that illuminate aspects of the dilemma presented by Picoult: the importance of parental love, the possibility that the dilemma might be reframed away from wrongful birth, and the need to shift our focus to questions of justice. While appreciating Green's contributions to bioethics, I also indicate several places of nuanced disagreement.     

Book review

Job's illness, loss, grief and integration. A psychological interpretation J. H. Kahn, M.D., F.R.C. Psych., D.P.M. Published by Pergamon Int. Library £6.00

Explorations in autism: A psycho-analytical study by Donald Meltzer, John Bremner, Shirley Hoxter, Doreen Wedell and ISCA Wittenberg     

Effects of Roles and Performance Feedback on the Equality Rule in Resource-Sharing Tasks

Abstract

Harrower, M. R., &; Steiner, M. E. Large Scale Rorschach Techniques. Springfield, III.: Thomas, 1951. Pp. 353. Reviewed by Robert M. Allen.     

Problems of dependence and development: Discussion

Abstract

Anna Freud: Normality and Pathology in Childhood. Assessments of Development. International Universities Press, Inc., New York, 1965. Pp. XII and 273.

M. L. Kellmer Pringle: Deprivation and Education. Longmans Green &; Co. Ltd., London, 1965. Pp. vi and 311. 42s. 6d.     

Personality Ratings Based on Handwriting Analysis and Clinical Judgment: A Reply to Teut Wallner

Abstract

Bentz, Hans W., Sigmund Freud in Ubersetzungen. Hans W. Bentz Verlag, Frankfurt A. M., 1961, pp. xiii, 60, DM $16.80. Reviewed by Eleanore Kay     

Social Psychologists and Social Psychology

Abstract

(Witkin, H. A., Hertzman, M., Machover, K., Meissner, P. B., &; Wapner, S. Personality Through Perception. New York: Harper, 1954. Pp. 571.) Reviewed by Murray H. Sherman.     

Experimenter Modeling Effects as Determinants of Subject's Responses

Abstract

Ames, Louise Bates, Metraux, Ruth W., Walker, Richard N. Adolescent Rorschach Responses. New York: Paul B. Hoeber, 1959, xi plus 313. $8.50. Reviewed by Mortimer M. Meyer

Bass, B. F. and Berg, I. A. Objective Approaches to Personality Assessment. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1959, pp. x-233. $4.95. Reviewed by Wilson H. Guertin

Bellak, L. (Ed.), Ostow, M., Pumpian-Mindlin, E., Stanton, A. H., and Szasz, T. S. Conceptual and methodological problems in psychoanalysis. New York: Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences, 1959, p. 973–1134. Reviewed by A. I. Rabin

Buros, Oscar K. (Ed.) The fifth mental measurements yearbook. Highland Park, N.J.: Gryphon Press, 1959. Reviewed by Bertram R. Forer

Caligor, Leopold. A New Approach to Figure Drawing. Springfield, III.: Charles Thomas, Publisher, 1957, pp. 148, $4.50. Reviewed by Emanuel F. Hammer, Ph.D.

Hallower, Molly. Personality Change and Development. New York and London: Grune &; Stratton. 1958. 383 pp. $10.00. Reviewed by Theodore H. Blau

Ledwith, Nettie H. Rorschach responses of elementary school children. Pittsburgh: Univ. Pittsburgh Press, 1959. Reviewed by Mortimer M. Meyer

Tomkins, Silvan S. and Miner, John B. PAT Interpretation. Springer Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1959. 184 pp. Reviewed by Leonard P. Ullmann     

Book reviews

Anna Freud: Normality and Pathology in Childhood. Assessments of Development. International Universities Press, Inc., New York, 1965. Pp. XII and 273.

M. L. Kellmer Pringle: Deprivation and Education. Longmans Green &; Co. Ltd., London, 1965. Pp. vi and 311. 42s. 6d.     

The Automatic and Controlled Information-Processing Dissociation: Is It Still Relevant?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the dual-process information-processing model of Schneider and Shiffrin (Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M., Psychol. Rev. 84: 1–66, 1977; see also Shiffrin, R. M., and Schneider, W. Psychol. Rev. 84: 127–190, 1977) in light of the research data that have accumulated since the model was introduced more than 20 years ago. First, a brief introduction of the basic model of automatic and controlled information processing will be given. Second, some alternatives to the basic model that were developed over the last two decades will be reviewed. Third, data from neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience that have a bearing upon this framework will be considered. Finally, some comments on the current usefulness of the dual-process framework for neuropsychological research will be offered.     

Reviews

Abstract

Selected review of current books on sexuality and sex therapy, John P. Wincze, Brown University/V.A. Hospital, Providence

Becoming Orgasmic: A Program of Sexual Growth for Women. Heiman, J., LoPiccolo, L., and LoPiccolo, J. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1976.

Female and Male: Dimensions of Human Sexuality. Pierson, E. and D'Antonio, W. New York: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1974.

Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality. Lief, H.I. Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Co., 1975.

Sex After Sixty. Butler, R. and Lewis, M. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.

Sex Therapy at Home. Kass, D. and Stauss, F. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.

SIECUS Study Guides. Sex Information and Education Council of the United States. New York, 1976 (6th printing).

Adulthood and aging: An interdisciplinary developmental view, Douglas Kimmel, New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1974, $12.50, 484 pages

Permanent weight control: A total solution to the dieter's dilemma, Michael J. Mahoney, Kathryn Mahoney, New York, W.W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1976, $7.95, 177 pages     

BOOK REVIEW

ABSTRACT

HELPING MEN CHANGE THE ROLE OF THE FEMALE THERAPIST, Beth M. Erickson. Sage Publications, Newberry park 469 pp., $29.95. Reviewed by Wray Pascoe.     

Health psychology reviews

Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health. Shirley Fisher & James Reason (Eds) Chichester, John Wiley, 1988 xxxiii + 750 pp., £65.00

Topics In Health Psychology S. Maes, C. D. Spielberger, P. B. Defares & I. G. Sarason (Eds) Chichester, John Wiley, 1988 xvi + 314 pp., £39.50

Health Psychology: a psychobiological perspective M. Feurstein, E.E. Labbe & A.R. Kuczmierczyk Plenum, New York, 1986 xv + 511 pp., $35.00

Behavioral Medicine and Developmental Disabilities James K. Luiselli (Ed.) [A volume in the series Disorders of Human Learning, Behavior and Communication. Series Editors R.L. Taylor & L. Sternberg] New York, Springer-Verlag, 1989 x + 242 pp., DM112

Reversal Theory: motivation, emotion and personality. Micheal J. After London, Routledge, 1989 £12.95

HYPNOSIS: current clinical, experimental and forensic practices. Michael Heap (Ed.) London, Croom Helm, 1988 448 pp., £30.00

Progress In Behavior Modification Vol. 22 (1988) M. Hersen, R.M. Eisler & P.M. Miller (Eds) London & Beverly Hills, Sage 286 pp., £45.00

Progress In Behavior Modification Vol. 23 (1988) M. Hersen, R.M. Eisler & P.M. Miller (Eds) London & Beverly Hills, Sage 210 pp., £45.00 W.J. Alladin     

A Study of the Attitudes of Some Children of Japanese Descent Toward the Chinese and Japanese

Abstract

(Le Cron, L. M., Ed. Experimental Hypnosis. New York: Macmillan, 1952. Pp. 483.) Reviewed by H. J. Eysenck     

Post-War Trends in Employment,Crime, Insanity,and Heart Disease

Abstract

(Snyder, W. U. Casebook of Non-Directive Counseling. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1947. Pp. 339.) Reviewed by Albert Ellis

(Newcomb, T. M., &; Hartley, E. L., Eds. Readings in Social Psychology. New York: Holt, 1947. Pp. 672.) Reviewed by Gwynne Nettler