Hot Topics: Privacy

Blog Posts (43)

March 20, 2018

Your Cell Phone Is Tattling About Your Health

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

As you may have heard in the news, Cambridge Analytica is a big data company that “uses data to change audience behavior.”  As they say on their website, “We find your voters and move them to action.” Allegedly, the company promised Republicans that they could influence the outcome of elections.…

January 17, 2018

Appeal for Principle before Rule, and Uniform Application of Rules: A Case of Psychiatric Ethics

by Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div.

I am the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President (Macmillan, 2017), which is intended as a public service. …

January 5, 2018

BioethicsTV (December 29, 2017-January 5, 2018): Medical Research and Consent for Testing

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Black Mirror (Seasons 4; Episode 6): Medical research

In this British series exploring the potential nightmares of modern technology, this episode looked at three stories of research ethics in medicine.…

December 13, 2017

BioethicsTV (12/11-13): Confidentiality, Cost, Religious Objection

Chicago Med (Season 3; Episode 4)

Confidentiality: A husband comes into the ER with his wife who is experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions.…

October 27, 2017

BioethicsTV (October 16-27, 2017): Maternal-Fetal Conflict, Trolley Car Dilemma & Lying

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

The Good Doctor (Season 1; Episode 4): Maternal-Fetal Conflict

Although the focus of this show is supposedly the neuro-different resident, what it does very well is pose and debate ethical issues.…

October 5, 2017

Livestreaming Surgery: New guidelines raise questions of who benefits

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

The Internet and social media have raised hosts of new ethical issues in the health care world: Should doctors friend their patients?…

September 15, 2017

Medical Gawking Case Points to Need for Culture Change

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

According to a news report in The Washington Post, a number of medical staff at a Pittsburgh hospital have been reprimanded over a gross violation of a patient’s privacy.…

August 18, 2017

Ethics & Society Newsfeed: August 18, 2017

Politics Neil Gorsuch Speech at Trump Hotel Raises Ethical Questions “Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, is scheduled to address a conservative group at the Trump International Hotel in Washington next month, less than two weeks before the court is set to hear arguments on Mr. Trump’s travel ban.” Trump’s Washington DC hotel … More Ethics & Society Newsfeed: August 18, 2017
June 14, 2017

Trump Opioid Task Force Considers HIPAA Exception for Overdoses

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Confidentiality is one of the sacrosanct principles of medicine. By keeping the secrets that patients share with health care providers, the patient trusts the provider and the provider has the information necessary to diagnose and treat.…

May 31, 2017

Time to Secure Your Implantable Medical Devices from Hackers

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

In the last few weeks, a major malware attack (WannaCry) paralyzed computers around the world, including electronic health records at the UK’s National Health Service and at hospitals throughout the world.…

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Published Articles (9)

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 18 Issue 2 - Feb 2018

The Quantified Relationship John Danaher, Sven Nyholm & Brian D. Earp

AJOB Primary Research: Volume 8 Issue 2 - Apr 2017

When bins blur: Patient perspectives on categories of results from clinical whole genome sequencing Leila Jamal, Jill O. Robinson, Kurt D. Christensen, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Melody J. Slashinski, Denise Lautenbach Perry, Jason L. Vassy, Julia Wycliff, Robert C. Green & Amy L. McGuire

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 5 - May 2017

Ethical Issues in Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Practice Yonghui Ma, Jiayu Liu, Catherine Rhodes, Yongzhan Nie & Faming Zhang

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 5 - May 2017

Ethics, Refugees, and the President's Executive Order Nancy E. Kass

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 5 - May 2017

Genetic Fingerprints and National Security Beau P. Sperry, Megan Allyse & Richard R. Sharp

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 17 Issue 1 - Jan 2017

Tracking U.S. Professional Athletes: The Ethics of Biometric Technologies Katrina Karkazis & Jennifer R. Fishman

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 15 Issue 11 - Nov 2015

Ingestible Drug Adherence Monitors: Trending Toward a Surveillance Society? Richard R. Sharp

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 14 Issue 10 - Oct 2014

Case Study:The Obligations to Report Statutory Sexual Abuse Disclosed in a Research Study Holly A. Taylor, Ellen Kuwana & Benjamin S. Wilfond

American Journal of Bioethics: Volume 13 Issue 10 - Oct 2013

Why Misconduct Trumps Patient–Therapist Confidentiality and Ways to Avoid the Disclosure Dilemma Nicholas H. Steneck

News (184)

January 25, 2018 9:00 am

What should we have the right to know about a president's health? (CNN)

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has promised a readout of the results as soon as information becomes available. But ultimately, Trump may decide to withhold details from his physical from the public. He can do so because presidents are shielded by the same federal health privacy laws that protect each of us from undue scrutiny.

December 15, 2017 9:00 am

A Chinese province is collecting DNA and iris scans from all its residents (Business Insider)

Authorities in the Chinese province of Xinjiang have begun collecting DNA and biometrics from all its residents, Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday.

July 5, 2017 10:00 am

For Parents of U.K. Infant, Trump’s Tweet Is Latest Twist in an Agonizing Journey (The New York Times)

The long journey for Connie Yates and Chris Gard, whose infant son, Charlie, cannot breathe or move on his own, appeared to have come to an end last week. The courts had ruled that the baby’s rare genetic condition was incurable and that the only humane option was to take him off life support. The couple announced that they were getting ready “to say the final goodbye.” Then Pope Francis and President Trump weighed in, offering statements of support and thrusting a global spotlight onto a heart-rending case that has become a cause célèbre in Britain.

June 21, 2017 9:00 am

China cracks down on fake peer reviews (Nature)

The Chinese government is going on the offensive against scientists who dupe journals by creating fraudulent reviews of submitted papers. A coalition of agencies led by the science ministry announced on 14 June that the government would suspend the grants of researchers involved in such fraud, which surfaced earlier this year when a cancer journal retracted 107 research papers from Chinese authors. And funding agencies in China promised to increase policing of the scientific community to prevent similar deceptions.

October 31, 2016 8:00 am

The controversial DNA search that helped nab the 'Grim Sleeper' is winning over skeptics (LA Times)

The “Roaming Rapist” is one of a handful of cases that California authorities have quietly solved in recent years using a controversial technique that scours an offender DNA database for a father, son or brother of an elusive crime suspect.

August 17, 2016 8:00 am

Spiking genomic databases with misinformation could protect patient privacy (Nature)

Large genomic databases are indispensable for scientists looking for genetic variations associated with diseases. But they come with privacy risks for people who contribute their DNA. A 2013 study1 showed that hackers could use publicly available information on the Internet to identify people from their anonymized genomic data.

May 12, 2016 8:14 am

For cholesterol study volunteer, an unsettling discovery in a Science paper: herself (Science)

When I first meet Rita Woidislawsky at La Colombe, her favorite coffee shop steps from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s upscale Rittenhouse Square, she’s effusive and bracingly direct—hugging patrons she knows, waving to baristas, and quickly finding the one table that’s about to free up. She’s dressed in workout clothes and delights in looking younger than her 68 years, with curly hair and an Israeli accent that’s lingered since she emigrated in her late teens.

April 22, 2016 9:52 am

New York Hospital to Pay $2.2 Million Over Unauthorized Filming of 2 Patients

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital has agreed to pay a $2.2 million penalty to federal regulators for allowing television crews to film two patients without their consent — one who was dying, the other in significant distress. Regulators said on Thursday that the hospital allowed filming to continue even after a medical professional asked that it stop.

February 17, 2016 4:33 pm

Hospital hack reveals digital risk in medical world

A Southern California hospital fell victim to hackers last week — offering a glimpse at one of many digital threats facing health care.

February 8, 2016 4:42 pm

U.S. and Europe in ‘Safe Harbor’ Data Deal, but Legal Fight May Await

European officials on Tuesday agreed to a deal with the United States that would let Google, Amazon and thousands of other businesses continue moving people’s digital data, including social media posts and financial information, back and forth across the Atlantic.

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