Biomedical Engineering & EthicsTheresa KennedyBME 181 Section March 4, 2013

What are Ethics?• The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class

of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.• Moral principles• Values relating to human conduct, with respect to the

rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

Why are Ethics Important in Biomedical Engineering?

• Any medical fields deal with serious and personal issues.• Integrity and confidentiality are necessary to allow engineering to

conduct research with patients and for results to be deemed relevant and progressive

• As technology advances so does our capabilities in engineering and medical fields.• These capabilities can allow us to achieve things people may deem

as science crossing into nature or religion/beliefs.

How are Codes of Ethics Created in Biomedical Engineering?

• Combines ethics from both the medical field and engineering fields.• Examples:

• Medical: Hippocratic Oath• Engineering: ABET & other organizations

• Biomedical engineers may not be medical practitioners but they are considered indirect practitioners.• Work closely with practitioners.

“Types” of Ethics in Biomedical Engineering• Professional Ethics • Being honest and impartial• Not publishing false reports

• Patient Ethics• Confidentiality• Full disclosure

• Natural & Human ethics• Not “playing God”• Not interfering with natural life and/or nature.• Not crossing the line between improving quality of life and changing

life.

Consequences of Breaking the Codes of Ethics

• Ethic standards are not necessarily legally prosecuted when broken

• You lose credibility in your field.• From peers and & elite organizations.

• May be sued in the form of torts, personal injury law suits.

Professional Ethics Case Study Example• Stem Cell Case (2005-2006)• Dr. Hwang Woo-Suk, a researcher and

professor at Seoul National University, published two papers in the journal Science that claiming his team had succeeded in creating human embryonic stem cells through cloning.

• Allegations followed from a co-worker that these paper was based on fabricated data.

• As a result:• the papers were editorially retracted.• Dr. Hwang lost his position at Seoul

National University.• The South Korean government ended

its financial and legal support of his research.

Patient EthicsCase Study Example• James Wilson (1999)• Gene therapy researcher at the

University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

• Working in gene therapy for OTC deficiency (A genetic disorder of resulting in a mutated and ineffective form of the enzyme Ornithine transcarbamylase)

• Directed a clinical trial involving gene therapy that led to the death of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger

• He failed to report the extent of the adverse reactions .

Natural & Human Ethics Case Study Example• Human enhancement:• Devices and techniques developed to support therapy or diagnosis may be used to

enhance healthy human traits beyond a normal level. • Morally controversial because it moves traits beyond boundaries of the human

species, and therefore has the potential to create super humans.

• Somatic Cell therapy:• genetic engineering of bodily cells other than sperm or egg cells in order to replace

defective genes with functional ones. • Considerable agreement that somatic cell gene therapy to treat serious diseases is

ethical.

• Germline cell engineering:• Not currently used therapeutically • Controversial practice in which genes in eggs, sperm or very early embryos are

modified.• The long term side effects of such engineering are currently unpredictable.• Concerns it violates the rights of future generations or amounts to “playing God”. • Superhuman controversies.

Ethics Associations• Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)

• National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)

• Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)

• Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

ABET Code of Ethics of Engineers

The Fundamental Principles

Engineers uphold and advance the integrity, honor, and dignity of the engineering profession by:

•Using their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human welfare.

•Being honest and impartial, and serving with fidelity the public, their employers, and their clients.

•Striving to increase the competence and prestige of the engineering profession.

•Supporting the professional and technical societies of their disciplines.

Ethics & Education!• Ethics influence how and what we are taught in school.

• ABET accredits schools however in order to receive accreditation programs must meet standards and teach their students required material.

• That means ethics is influencing everything we are learning right now!

Works Cited

Bank, A. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.Brey, P. (2009). ‘Biomedical Engineering Ethics.’ Eds. Berg-Olsen,

J., Pedersen, S., Hendricks, V. (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Technology. Blackwell."Scientific Research Ethics." General Resources. Illinois Institute of Technology, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2013.Smith, TJ, and N. Naurato. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.