Hot Topics: Privacy

Blog Posts (49)

May 31, 2018

Targeted Medicine: Advertising to the Medically Vulnerable

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Imaging going to the doctor and suddenly finding ads popping up on your phone. Perhaps there’s a discount for receiving a specialized treatment.…

May 17, 2018

Big Data Studies and Abuse of Fiduciary Duties

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

A study published in the May 17th, 2018 issue of Cell, “Disease Heritability Inferred from Familial Relationships Reported in Medical Records,” shows a connection between families and certain diseases at three large urban university medical centers.…

May 11, 2018

BioethicsTV (May 7-11): #ChicagoMed, #GreysAnatomy

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Chicago Med (Season 3; Episode 19): Maternal-Fetal Conflict; Grey’s Anatomy (Season 14; Episode 23): Personal Disclosures of Illness

As the traditional television season comes to a close, many medical dramas have steered away from ethical dilemmas in medical care to heighten the drama among their characters in order to provide strong cliff hangers for the season finale.…

May 2, 2018

From Westworld to the Rest of the World: Time to Regulate the Mining of Third Party Data

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

You do not have control over your ideas, your passions, or even your DNA anymore. Your biological material and your ideas may be taken without your awareness of it.…

April 27, 2018

BioethicsTV (April 23-27): #TheResident, #ChicagoMed, #CodeBlack

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

The Resident (Season 1; Episode 11): Placebos, CYA, Office politics; Chicago Med (Season 3; Episode 17): Promise-making, Denial Brain death (PVS or coma); Code Black (Seasons 3; Episode 1): Do no harm, HIPAA

The Resident (Season 1; Episode 11): Placebos; CYA; Office politics

We learn that the hospital’s motto is “Incredible things are happening here.” That’s ironic because the incredible clearly isn’t meant to be seen in a positive light.…

April 26, 2018

War Against Science 3.0: The EPA, Doublespeak, and Obfuscation

by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.

Transparency is a good thing. In ethics courses, we teach that doctors should be transparent to their patients, being truthful and disclosing information.…

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.…

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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 (185)

May 18, 2018 9:00 am

In Germany, controversial law gives Bavarian police new power to use DNA (Science)

An estimated 30,000 people demonstrated in Munich, Germany, last week to protest a new Bavarian law giving police new powers.

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.

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