Ethical

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Medical Sciences

Terms modified by Ethical

  • ethical action
  • ethical agency
  • ethical analysis
  • ethical approach
  • ethical approval
  • ethical aspect
  • ethical basis
  • ethical behavior
  • ethical behaviour
  • ethical belief
  • ethical challenge
  • ethical climate
  • ethical code
  • ethical committee
  • ethical concept
  • ethical concern
  • ethical conduct
  • ethical conflict
  • ethical consequence
  • ethical consideration
  • ethical consumer
  • ethical consumption
  • ethical debate
  • ethical decision
  • ethical decision making
  • ethical decision-making
  • ethical deliberation
  • ethical demand
  • ethical dilemma
  • ethical dimension
  • ethical discourse
  • ethical evaluation
  • ethical framework
  • ethical guidance
  • ethical guideline
  • ethical imperative
  • ethical implication
  • ethical investment
  • ethical issue
  • ethical issues
  • ethical judgment
  • ethical leadership
  • ethical obligation
  • ethical orientation
  • ethical perception
  • ethical perspective
  • ethical position
  • ethical practice
  • ethical principle
  • ethical problem
  • ethical question
  • ethical reason
  • ethical reasoning
  • ethical response
  • ethical responsibility
  • ethical review
  • ethical standards
  • ethical theory
  • ethical value

  • Selected Abstracts


    IS IT ETHICAL TO STUDY WHAT OUGHT NOT TO HAPPEN?1

    DEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2006
    STUART RENNIE
    ABSTRACT In the Democratic Republic of Congo, only an estimated 2% of all AIDS patients have access to treatment. As AIDS treatment access is scaled-up in the coming years, difficult rationing decisions will have to be made concerning who will come to gain access to this scarce medical resource. This article focuses on the position, expressed by representatives of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), that the practice of AIDS treatment access rationing is fundamentally unethical because it conflicts with the ideal of universal treatment access and the human right to health. The conclusion is that MSF's position lacks coherence, has negative practical implications, and is unfair to governments struggling to increase patient's access to AIDS treatment in unfavorable circumstances. [source]


    ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ISSUES INVOLVED IN ACTING AS A PSYCHOLOGIST PARENT COORDINATOR IN CHILD CUSTODY CASES

    FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2004
    Matthew J. Sullivan
    The use of Psychologist Parent Coordinators in child custody cases (called Special Masters in California) is becoming increasingly prevalent across the country. This postdivorce parenting coordination role is a legal/psychological hybrid, demanding knowledge and skill in legal domains (legal procedure, relevant case law, etc.), psychological domains (child development, family systems, etc.), and dispute resolution (mediation and settlement processes). Situated in the interface of legal and psychological paradigms, Parent Coordination may be reviewed by multiple legal and psychological regulatory bodies. Coming from varying perspectives, the practice guidelines and mandates of these legal, ethical, and licensing agencies impose multiple standards of review of Parent Coordination. A brief overview of the legal and psychological review processes applicable to Special Master work in California, as they relate to common issues that confront the Parenting Coordinator across the country, is the focus of this article. They suggest that the current lack of coordination of review processes creates a minefield of professional risk for the psychologist who chooses to practice in this role. [source]


    MOTIVATIONAL, ETHICAL, AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS IN THE TREATMENT OF UNWANTED HOMOEROTIC ATTRACTION

    JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2003
    Christopher H. Rosik
    A recent special section of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy(October, 2000) focusing on the mental health needs of gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals neglected to address the clinical needs of homosexual persons who desire to increase their heterosexual potential. This article attempts to correct this omission by outlining common motivations for pursuing change, updating the current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of change efforts, and providing some ethical guidelines when therapists encounter clients who present with unwanted homoerotic attraction. Finally, to assist marriage and family therapists (MFTs) in more deply understanding divergent perspectives about reorientation treatments, an examination of the role of moral epistemology is presented and some examples of its potential influence are described. MFTs are encouraged to recognize and accept, rather than ignore or deny the valid needs of clients who seek to modify their same-sex attraction. [source]


    Being Ethical as Conservation Biologists and as a Society

    CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
    Paul Beier
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Social Acceleration: Ethical and Political Consequences of a Desynchronized High,Speed Society

    CONSTELLATIONS: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRITICAL AND DEMOCRATIC THEORY, Issue 1 2003
    Hartmut Rosa
    First page of article [source]


    Communicating with Subjects: Special Challenges for Resuscitation Research

    ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2005
    Ilene Wilets PhD
    Abstract In May 2005, Academic Emergency Medicine sponsored a one-day consensus conference held in association with the 2005 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine meeting in New York City. The conference, entitled "Ethical Conduct of Resuscitation Research," addressed a variety of issues regarding the successful conduct of research in acute care settings. A number of important breakout sessions were convened based on challenges specific to resuscitation research. "Communicating with Subjects" was one such session, dedicated toward perfecting the conduct of informed consent for research. The breakout session was attended by 15 insightful emergency medicine investigators, administrators, and ethicists. Issues of research information disclosure, subject comprehension, and the voluntariness of research participation were addressed. Consensus statements were developed and are discussed within this report. [source]


    Ethical, Legal, and Social Dimensions of Epilepsy Genetics

    EPILEPSIA, Issue 10 2006
    Sara Shostak
    Summary:,Purpose: Emerging genetic information and the availability of genetic testing has the potential to increase understanding of the disease and improve clinical management of some types of epilepsy. However, genetic testing is also likely to raise significant ethical, legal, and social issues for people with epilepsy, their family members, and their health care providers. We review the genetic and social dimensions of epilepsy relevant to understanding the complex questions raised by epilepsy genetics. Methods: We reviewed two literatures: (a) research on the genetics of epilepsy, and (b) social science research on the social experience and social consequences of epilepsy. For each, we note key empiric findings and discuss their implications with regard to the consequences of emerging genetic information about epilepsy. We also briefly review available principles and guidelines from professional and advocacy groups that might help to direct efforts to ascertain and address the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of genetic testing for epilepsy. Results: Genetic information about epilepsy may pose significant challenges for people with epilepsy and their family members. Although some general resources are available for navigating this complex new terrain, no guidelines specific to epilepsy have yet been developed to assist people with epilepsy, their family members, or their health care providers. Conclusions: Research is needed on the ethical, legal, and social concerns raised by genetic research on epilepsy and the advent of genetic testing. This research should include the perspectives of people with epilepsy and their family members, as well as those of health care professionals, policymakers, and bioethicists. [source]


    The Laughter of the Oppressed: Ethical and Theological Resistance in Wiesel, Morrison, and Endo , By Jacqueline Bussie

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
    Sam Wells
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Ethical and Legal Issues in Geriatric Research

    JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 10 2003
    Greg A. Sachs MD
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Ethical and social dilemmas in community-based controlled trials in situations of poverty: a view from a South African project

    JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2002
    Nosisana Nama
    Abstract All psychological and social research presents ethical dilemmas, many of which centre around the difficulties which flow from the power imbalances between those conducting the research and the research respondents or participants. Issues of power are magnified in research undertaken in contexts of poverty, and there is a burgeoning literature on ethical issues in research in developing countries. In this article, we augment the existing literature by focusing on the experiences of an assessor working in a controlled trial of a mother,infant intervention in a poor South African community. We consider issues of community expectations, the presentation to our project of physical health problems, the issue of HIV/AIDS, cultural beliefs which impact on the research, child protection issues, and the tensions between research assessment and ubuntu,a cultural norm which requires helpful engagement with others. We suggest that our experiences may assist with the development of further research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Michael Novak's Business as a Calling as a Vehicle for Addressing Ethical and Policy Concerns in a Business Law Course

    JOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES EDUCATION, Issue 1 2008
    Tonia Hap Murphy
    [source]


    New frontiers of assisted reproductive technology (Chien Tien Hsu Memorial Lecture 2007)

    JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY RESEARCH (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2009
    P. C. Ho
    Abstract Many significant advances have been made in assisted reproductive technology since the birth of the first baby conceived with in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. The development of recombinant gonadotropins and gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists helps to simplify the ovarian stimulation. Excessive ovarian stimulation should be avoided because of the risks of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and reduction in endometrial receptivity. Maturation of oocytes in vitro has been developed in some centers. It is still uncertain whether techniques such as assisted hatching, blastocyst transfer and pre-implantation aneuploidy screening can improve the live birth rates in assisted reproduction. The introduction of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for selection of human lymphocyte antigens (HLA) compatible embryos for treatment of siblings has raised ethical concerns. There is a higher risk of obstetric complications and congenital abnormalities even in singleton pregnancies achieved with assisted reproduction. Because of the risks of multiple pregnancies, elective single embryo transfer is increasingly used in good-prognosis patients. With a good freezing program, the cumulative pregnancy rate (including the pregnancies from subsequent replacement of frozen-thawed embryos) is not adversely affected. Improvement in cryopreservation techniques has made it possible to cryopreserve slices of ovarian tissue or oocytes, thus helping women who have to receive sterilizing forms of anti-cancer treatment to preserve their fertility. It is important that the development of the new techniques should be based on good scientific evidence. Ethical, legal and social implications should also be considered before the introduction of new techniques. [source]


    The Treating Physician as Expert Witness: Ethical and Pragmatic Considerations

    PAIN MEDICINE, Issue 5 2006
    Ben A. Rich JD
    ABSTRACT Objective., The objective of this analysis is to apprise pain physicians of the ethical concerns and practical considerations that arise when a treating physician is called upon to testify as an expert witness in a legal proceeding involving his or her own patient. The provision of expert testimony in medico-legal proceedings has come under heightened scrutiny in recent years. When a physician testifies as an expert witness, such testimony is considered to be the practice of medicine, and hence subject to the same ethical and professional obligations as patient care. Increasingly, medical professional organizations have promulgated guidelines for such activities, and even implemented oversight mechanisms to review complaints concerning expert testimony by their members. Additional issues are raised when the expert witness is also the treating physician for the patient who is a party to the legal proceeding in which the expert testimony is offered. Conclusions., While it is not categorically unethical or inadvisable for a physician to testify as an expert witness in a medico-legal proceeding involving his or her own patient, such activity raises special issues and concerns. Prospective expert witnesses in such situations should be cognizant of these issues and insure that they have been adequately addressed before and during the testimony. [source]


    Assessment of violence potential among school children: Beyond profiling

    PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SCHOOLS, Issue 3 2001
    Matthew K. Burns
    The increasing level of public attention to violence in American schools makes the issue a top priority among educators. School psychologists could play an important role in identifying at-risk youth, and planning appropriate individual, school, and community interventions related to school violence. However, there is limited literature examining different assessment approaches that could be used to evaluate student risk for violence. This article reviews (a) characteristics of students "at risk" for violence, (b) informal checklists and matching student characteristics to profiles of typical violent students and (c) threat assessment based on Borum et al.'s (1999) model. Ethical and legal considerations are covered as well. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons. Inc. [source]


    Performance of Australia's Ethical Funds

    THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2001
    John Tippet
    Australia's three major public ethical investment funds achieved mixed financial success in the seven years to 30 June 1998, though on average the funds underperformed relative to the market. For the four-year and five-year holding periods to 30 June 1995 and 1996 respectively, the average holding-period returns for the three funds were less than the risk-free rate. This is strong evidence of investors incurring a financial discount for investing ethically and, with respect to the ethical investor's utility function, it is evidence of the marginal utility increasing as the ethical attributes of assets increase. [source]


    Field primatology of today: current ethical issues

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 9 2010
    K.C. MacKinnon
    Abstract As members of professional organizations such as American Society of Primatologists (ASP) and the International Primatological Society (IPS), primatologists must adhere to a set of nonhuman primate-focused principles outlined in resolutions and policy statements on, for example, the ethical treatment of nonhuman primates. Those of us that work in the field must also address issues such as the protection of primate health in the wild and the conservation of wild primate populations. Moreover, we increasingly find ourselves in complex situations where we must balance human and nonhuman primate needs and interests. The selection of commentary pieces in this edition of the American Journal of Primatology originated from presentations given in the symposium, Field Primatology of Today: Navigating the Ethical Landscape, held at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists (ASP) in September 2009. The goals of that symposium and these resulting commentary pieces are threefold: (1) to revive a discussion of key contemporary ethical issues faced by field primatologists, (2) to highlight the need for centrally placed ethical considerations in various facets of our professional lives, particularly research and teaching, and (3) to consider what a comprehensive ethical code that addresses all of these issues might look like. Am. J. Primatol. 72:749,753, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Stem Cell Research as Innovation: Expanding the Ethical and Policy Conversation

    THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2010
    Rebecca Dresser
    Research using human embryonic stem cells raises an array of complex ethical issues, including, but by no means limited to, the moral status of developing human life. Unfortunately much of the public discussion fails to take into account this complexity. Advocacy for liberal and conservative positions on human embryonic stem cell research can be simplistic and misleading. Ethical concepts such as truth-telling, scientific integrity, and social justice should be part of the debate over federal support for human embryonic stem cell research. Moreover, the debate should be conducted in accord with principles of deliberative democracy, including respect for people holding competing views. [source]


    Interrelationships among Native Peoples, Genetic Research, and the Landscape: Need for Further Research into Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues

    THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2006
    Mervyn L. Tano J.D.
    To understand the impacts of development on native peoples requires an understanding of how their genetic make-up is implicated in their relationship with their landscapes. This is an area ripe for more research. The ASLME project on DNA Fingerprinting and Civil Liberties proposed improvements to the ethical and legal safeguards for the collection and storage of DNA-derived genetic information. Native peoples have proposed a similar examination of the ethical and legal issues related to the collection and storage of their genetic information obtained via family histories and genealogies. [source]


    The Legal, Ethical, and Practical Implications of Noncompetition Clauses: What Physicians Should Know Before They Sign

    THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 2 2003
    Derek W. LoeserArticle first published online: 24 JAN 200
    First page of article [source]


    Ethical Investing: The Permissibility of Participation

    THE JOURNAL OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, Issue 4 2001
    Avery Kolers
    [source]


    Organ Transplantation: Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects,Towards a Common European Policy edited by W. Weimar, M. A. Bos, and J. J. Busschbach

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 1 2009
    James S. Taylor
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    The relationships among clinical depression, suicide, and other actions that may hasten death

    BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 5 2004
    James L. Werth Jr. Ph.D.
    Clinical depression and other psychological disorders have been associated with suicidal ideation, attempts, and deaths. Because of the link between suicide and mental illness, whenever discussion of "assisted suicide" arises, the possibility that major depression is affecting the decision arises. This article examines the literature on clinical depression as it relates to suicide, "assisted suicide," and other decisions that will hasten death (i.e. withholding and withdrawing treatment, terminal sedation, and voluntarily stopping eating and drinking). Ethical and legal considerations when working with individuals who are considering taking an action that would hasten death are also briefly reviewed. The article ends with practice and policy recommendations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Ethical investment: whose ethics, which investment?

    BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 3 2001
    Russell Sparkes
    Ethical or socially responsible investment (SRI) is one of the most rapidly growing areas of finance. New government regulations mean that all pension funds are obliged to take such considerations into account. However, this phenomenon has received little critical attention from business ethicists, and a clear conceptual framework is lacking. This paper, by a practitioner in the field, attempts to fill this analytical gap. It considers what difference, if any, lies between the terms ,ethical', ,green', or ,socially responsible'. It also tackles the difficult question of how any public form of investment can be called ,ethical' in an overtly pluralistic society. The paper provides an account of the historical development of ethical investment, and traces the evolution of the varying terms used to describe it. This is followed by a conceptual analysis of these terms, and a description of ethical decision-making in this context. The paper ends by considering the role of shareholder action within ethical investment, and assesses the utility of the stakeholder model as a theoretical justification. [source]


    Ethical and economic evaluations of consumption in contemporary China

    BUSINESS ETHICS: A EUROPEAN REVIEW, Issue 2 2001
    Zhou Zhongzhi
    Consumption is one of the important components in the social reproduction circle, which also includes production, distribution, and exchange. Consumer activities should be examined in the social context as well as in the context of the production process. Especially important are impacts of social ethics and individual morality on consumer activities. This paper describes a dialectical relation between ethical and economic evaluations of consumption, presents evidence on Chinese attitudes to borrowing, and proposes a reasonable proportionality between consumption and frugality as a general guideline for consumer activities in contemporary China. [source]


    Knowledge Translation at the Macro Level: Legal and Ethical Considerations

    ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2007
    Gregory Luke Larkin MD, MSPH
    Macro-level legal and ethical issues play a significant role in the successful translation of knowledge into practice. The medicolegal milieu, in particular, can promote clinical inertia and stifle innovation. Embracing new clinical practice guidelines and best practice models has not protected physicians from superfluous torts; in some cases, emerging evidence has been used as the dagger of trial lawyers rather than the scalpel of physicians. Beyond the legal challenges are overarching justice issues that frame the broad goals of knowledge translation (KT) and technology diffusion. Optimal implementation of the latest evidence requires attention to be paid to the context of the candidate community and the key opinion leaders therein, characterized by the "8Ps" (public, patients, press, physicians, policy makers, private sector, payers, and public health). Ethical and equitable KT also accounts for the global burdens and benefits of implementing innovation such that disparities and gaps in health experienced by the least advantaged are prioritized. Researchers and thought leaders must attend to questions of fairness, economics, and legal risk when investigating ways to promote equity-oriented KT. [source]


    Ethics Seminars: Withdrawal of Treatment in the Emergency Department,When and How?

    ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 12 2006
    Kelly Bookman MD
    Abstract Although increasing discussion has occurred within emergency medicine about indications for withholding cardiac life support and other resuscitative interventions, emergency physicians (EPs) may be less familiar with the ethical, legal, and practical issues surrounding withdrawal of life support that has already been initiated. Both physicians and out-of-hospital personnel must act rapidly in critical situations and must assume that the patient has the desire to be resuscitated, unless clear evidence exists to the contrary. Often, only after initial life-saving actions have stabilized the patient is there time to reflect and determine a patient's desires regarding such interventions. When the EP can clearly discern a patient's previously stated wishes during the emergency department (ED) stay, these wishes should be honored in the ED. Respecting a patient's request to avoid unwanted, invasive treatments near death may involve withdrawing interventions that could not be withheld during the first few minutes of care. In this article, the authors use a case of out-of-hospital stabilization of a patient as a springboard to review the ethical and legal framework for withdrawal of life-sustaining care, as well as the practical issues involved with withdrawal of such care in the ED. [source]


    Due Diligence and "Reasonable Man," Offshore

    CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2005
    Bill Maurer
    In the wake of an international crackdown against preferential tax regimes, Caribbean tax havens and other jurisdictions have adopted "due diligence" procedures to manage financial and reputational risk. Due diligence relies on qualitative forms of evaluation and defers grounded and definitive knowledge claims through continuous peer review. In doing so, it mirrors certain forms of ethnographic practice at a number of levels of scale. This article tracks the shifts in financial regulation from crime to harm and from certainty to scrutiny and reflects on their implications for ethnography,as a limited and open-ended process of evaluation warranted by qualitative forms of judgment. It seeks to complicate our picture of contemporary capitalisms by drawing attention to the nonquantifiable and the ethical that lie "inside" them. Where conventional forms of ethnographic critique might look to expose the political or economic interests behind actions, symbols, or social relationships, this article has a more modest goal: to try to understand the similarity of form between due diligence and anthropology. [source]


    Diversity of effective treatments of panic attacks: what do they have in common?,

    DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 1 2010
    Walton T. Roth M.D.
    Abstract By comparing efficacious psychological therapies of different kinds, inferences about common effective treatment mechanisms can be made. We selected six therapies for review on the basis of the diversity of their theoretical rationales and evidence for superior efficacy: psychoanalytic psychotherapy, hypercapnic breathing training, hypocapnic breathing training, reprocessing with and without eye-movement desensitization, muscle relaxation, and cognitive behavior therapy. The likely common element of all these therapies is that they reduce the immediate expectancy of a panic attack, disrupting the vicious circle of fearing fear. Modifying expectation is usually regarded as a placebo mechanism in psychotherapy, but may be a specific treatment mechanism for panic. The fact that this is seldom the rationale communicated to the patient creates a moral dilemma: Is it ethical for therapists to mislead patients to help them? Pragmatic justification of a successful practice is a way out of this dilemma. Therapies should be evaluated that deal with expectations directly by promoting positive thinking or by fostering non-expectancy. Depression and Anxiety, 2010. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    REPRODUCTIVE TOURISM IN ARGENTINA: CLINIC ACCREDITATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONSUMERS, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND POLICY MAKERS

    DEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2010
    ELISE SMITH
    ABSTRACT A subcategory of medical tourism, reproductive tourism has been the subject of much public and policy debate in recent years. Specific concerns include: the exploitation of individuals and communities, access to needed health care services, fair allocation of limited resources, and the quality and safety of services provided by private clinics. To date, the focus of attention has been on the thriving medical and reproductive tourism sectors in Asia and Eastern Europe; there has been much less consideration given to more recent ,players' in Latin America, notably fertility clinics in Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. In this paper, we examine the context-specific ethical and policy implications of private Argentinean fertility clinics that market reproductive services via the internet. Whether or not one agrees that reproductive services should be made available as consumer goods, the fact is that they are provided as such by private clinics around the world. We argue that basic national regulatory mechanisms are required in countries such as Argentina that are marketing fertility services to local and international publics. Specifically, regular oversight of all fertility clinics is essential to ensure that consumer information is accurate and that marketed services are safe and effective. It is in the best interests of consumers, health professionals and policy makers that the reproductive tourism industry adopts safe and responsible medical practices. [source]


    Rethinking Medical Ethics: A View From Below

    DEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 1 2004
    Paul Farmer
    ABSTRACT In this paper, we argue that lack of access to the fruits of modern medicine and the science that informs it is an important and neglected topic within bioethics and medical ethics. This is especially clear to those working in what are now termed ,resource-poor settings', to those working, in plain language, among populations living in dire poverty. We draw on our experience with infectious diseases in some of the poorest communities in the world to interrogate the central imperatives of bioethics and medical ethics. AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria are the three leading infectious killers of adults in the world today. Because each disease is treatable with already available therapies, the lack of access to medical care is widely perceived in heavily disease-burdened areas as constituting an ethical and moral dilemma. In settings in which research on these diseases are conducted but there is little in the way of therapy, there is much talk of first world diagnostics and third world therapeutics. Here we call for the ,resocialising' of ethics. To resocialise medical ethics will involve using the socialising disciplines to contextualise fully ethical dilemmas in settings of poverty and, a related gambit, the systematic participation of the destitute sick. Clinical research across steep gradients also needs to be linked with the interventions that are demanded by the poor and otherwise marginalised. We conclude that medical ethics must grapple more persistently with the growing problem posed by the yawning ,outcome gap' between rich and poor. [source]