The ethical opportunity

Ethical economics and cost-effectiveness analysis: is it ethical to ignore opportunity costs?

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) has been adopted as method for informing health care decision-makers about alternative uses of health care resources. By comparing the incremental costs and effects of a new intervention relative to the existing approach to dealing with the same patients, decision-makers seek to choose those investments that lead to the production of maximum health gain from av...

Internet research: an opportunity to revisit classic ethical problems in behavioral research.

The Internet offers many new opportunities for behavioral researchers to conduct quantitative and qualitative research. Although the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association generalize, in part, to research conducted through the Internet, several matters related to Internet research require further analysis. This article reviews several fundamental ethical issues related to ...

Breast cancer screening: an ethical dilemma, or an opportunity for openness?

The NHS Breast Screening Programme was hailed as a life-saver when it was set up, but research has raised concerns about efficacy and levels of harm. The honesty and adequacy of screening information was challenged: proof of the '1400 lives a year saved' claim was not offered and some serious harms were not mentioned. The report of the independent review of breast screening exposed grave concer...

Opportunity

The American Board of Pathology (ABP) has recently approved a physician-scientist research pathway (PSRP) for pathologists in training. This new pathway was specifically created to increase the recruitment of new physician-scientists to our specialty. Other specialties, such as internal medicine, pediatrics, radiology/radiation oncology, and dermatology, have formally Board approved research tr...

Smoking--the doctor's opportunity.