We teach and practice ethical behavior with all clinical and research activities. Notably, we are well educated to treat the subjects participating in research studies with high ethical standards. However, the ethics of interacting with colleagues, or with junior faculty members, are neither well defined nor taught. Dealing with junior faculty has parallels to dealing with vulnerable research subjects such as children, mentally or physically challenged groups, prison inmates or army recruits. Like any other vulnerable population, lower-ranking faculty members are often at the mercy of department chairs or other higher-ranked faculty members. Herein we present some potentially unethical or unfair examples related to academic research. Our goal is to educate the academic community of conceptual paths and to prevent similar untoward occurrences from happening in the future. Unethical behaviors related to sexual misconduct have already been described elsewhere and are not included in this manuscript. © 2020 Janket SJ et al.

BackgroundWe aimed to investigate the extent of the agreement on practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation.MethodsInvestigators from 67 Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study centers completed several questionnaires (response rate: 99%).ResultsRegarding practices around brain death, we found agreement on the clinical evaluation (prerequisites and neurological assessment) for brain death determination (BDD) in 100% of the centers. However, ancillary tests were required for BDD in 64% of the centers. BDD for nondonor patients was deemed mandatory in 18% of the centers before withdrawing life-sustaining measures (LSM). Also, practices around postmortem organ donation varied. Organ donation after circulatory arrest was forbidden in 45% of the centers. When withdrawal of LSM was contemplated, in 67% of centers the patients with a ventricular drain in situ had this removed, either sometimes or all of the time.ConclusionsThis study showed both agreement and some regional differences regarding practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation. We hope our results help quantify and understand potential differences, and provide impetus for current dialogs toward further harmonization of practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation.

Background Investigating the context of trauma and acute care surgery, the article aims at understanding the factors that can enhance some ethical aspects, namely the importance of patient consent, the perceptiveness of the ethical role of the trauma leader, and the perceived importance of ethics as an educational subject. Methods The article employs an international questionnaire promoted by the World Society of Emergency Surgery. Results Through the analysis of 402 fully filled questionnaires by surgeons from 72 different countries, the three main ethical topics are investigated through the lens of gender, membership of an academic or non-academic institution, an official trauma team, and a diverse group. In general terms, results highlight greater attention paid by surgeons belonging to academic institutions, official trauma teams, and diverse groups. Conclusions Our results underline that some organizational factors (e.g., the fact that the team belongs to a university context or is more diverse) might lead to the development of a higher sensibility on ethical matters. Embracing cultural diversity forces trauma teams to deal with different mindsets. Organizations should, therefore, consider those elements in defining their organizational procedures.

The philosophical problem explored in this thesis concerns the metaethical demand of impartiality as a condition for ethics. The thesis holds its focus on impartiality while approaching it through an ethico-political set-up concerning the ethics of nationality and its demands. In order to provide a framing for the exploration, the thesis adopts a restricted view to the issue by way of studying leadership that could be called ethical. Moreover, a case study pertaining to the current U.S. Presidential Administration binds the questions together and provides material for conclusions regarding the issue of impartiality as a metaethical demand. In sum, the thesis adopts multiple levels of exploration albeit in the final analysis remaining to be focused in the philosophical question pertaining to the conditions of ethics itself. The thesis is executed in four stages. Chapter one studies some relevant theories of nationality, the relating demands of impartiality, and pins these questions on ethical leadership. The argument is that David Miller’s claim about the plausibility of the ethics of nationality can be challenged due to a tension that remains in stances espousing universalist particularism. This results in the challenge for ethically concerned (national) leaders to not adopt a mistaken cognitive stance in moral reasoning regarding the justified scope of moral worth as theorized by Terry L. Price. On this basis, chapter two outlines a case study in order to concretize the particular challenges that can be met in terms of the reviewed theories. Drawing from Walter Fluker, environmental concern should be an integral aspect of any conception of ethical leadership that itself, however, appears in the same analysis more as a quest rather than a readily executable stance of moral reasoning. Counter to Fluker’s insight, the current U.S. Presidential Administration has wilfully executed policies that aggravate the environmental impacts of climate change. This observation results in the need to clarify the administration’s stance. By way of attempting to comprehend the undercurrents of the case study, chapter three probes into the potential moral and intellectual justifications that would grant some legitimation for the hard-line nationalistic policy-stances as exposed by the case study. The theories by Thomas Malthus and Samuel Huntington as well as the matching applicative ideologization by Steve Bannon provides a framing that would justify the current U.S. Presidential Administration’s nationalistic “America First” program that also covers the field of environmental policymaking. Finally, chapter four ties the analyses together by re-examining un/ethical leadership, the aporia of im/partiality, and the viability of nationalist universalism. As a result, the thesis observes that David Miller’s and Yael Tamir’s respective attempts at defending nationalism fail as in the end they are not able to overcome the evident tension regarding the scope of moral obligations pertaining to im/partiality. Such failures point out an inherent difficulty for any ethical thought in that insofar as there seems not to be an uncontestable justification for defining a restricted scope of moral demands, then all models of normative ethics but pure universalism have been left without proper legitimatization.

This study explored the perceptions of ethical issues in supervision among doctoral students and supervisors. The nature of ethical issues identified by doctoral students (n = 28) and their supervisors (n = 14) is explored and the degree of fit and misfit between their perceptions in two cases representing the natural and behavioural sciences is analysed. Supervisors and students identified different ethical issues, which suggest that there are aspects in the supervisory relationship about which there is no shared understanding. There were also differences between the ethical issues emphasised in the natural sciences from those emphasised in the behavioural sciences, suggesting differences between the domains.

Purpose: Enrolling traumatic brain injury (731) patients with an inability to provide informed consent in research is challenging. Alternatives to patient consent are not sufficiently embedded in European and national legislation, which allows procedural variation and bias. We aimed to quantify variations in informed consent policy and practice. Methods: Variation was explored in the CENTER-TBI study. Policies were reported by using a questionnaire and national legislation. Data on used informed consent procedures were available for 4498 patients from 57 centres across 17 European countries. Results: Variation in the use of informed consent procedures was found between and within EU member states. Proxy informed consent (N = 1377;64%) was the most frequently used type of consent in the ICU, followed by patient informed consent (N 426;20%) and deferred consent (N 334;16%). Deferred consent was only actively used in 15 centres (26%), although it was considered valid in 47 centres (82%). Conclusions: Alternatives to patient consent are essential for TBI research. While there seems to be concordance amongst national legislations, there is regional variability in institutional practices with respect to the use of different informed consent procedures. Variation could be caused by several reasons, including inconsistencies in clear legislation or knowledge of such legislation amongst researchers. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Many professional archaeologists will engage with television. There seems to be little guidance- other than trial and error and personal communications - for navigating interactions with media production companies. Here, through a series of informal questions and answers, I present some issues with which one might be confronted in such engagements. I base my discussions on personal experience, literature, and conversations with experienced colleagues. A key point is that media production companies' agendas and priorities often differ from those of archaeologists. While the article draws on experiences from Europe and North America, it has relevance for archaeologists working with television everywhere.