Center for Ethical Solutions

Last updated
Center for Ethical Solutions
AbbreviationCES
Type bioethics think tank
Headquarters Lovettsville, VA, United States
Chairwoman
 Sigrid Fry-Revere
Key people
  • Shane Steinfeld
  • Rod Carveth
  • Michele Battle-Fisher
Revenue (2015)
$28,109 [1]
Expenses (2015)$27,076 [1]

The Center for Ethical Solutions (CES), founded by Sigrid Fry-Revere, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit bioethics think tank based in Lovettsville, Virginia whose mission is to find practical solutions to controversial problems in the field of medical ethics. CES supports research and public education, seeking to achieve its goals through research and developing products including books and documentary films to educate the public. Lobbying and participation in political campaigns are specifically excluded from its activities.

Contents

Projects

Current projects

CES is studying possible ways to solve the US organ shortage by examining the different organ donation systems in Iran, which has eliminated its country's waiting list for kidneys [2] (a claim contested by some [3] ), and Spain, which has the highest rate of organ donation in the world. [4] Beginning in November 2008, Dr. Fry-Revere and Dr. Bahar Bastani, an American-Iranian nephrologist and professor of internal medicine at St. Louis Medical School in Missouri, traveled in Iran for six weeks to collect statistical data as well as testimonies from those involved in the transplant community there. The "Iranian model" involves legalizing compensation for organ donation, [2] and the "Spanish model" involves a comprehensive national procurement system, maintaining positive views of organ donation in the mass media, and proactive donor detection, all coordinated by the National Transplant Organization. [5] While Spain does employ an opt-out system for organ donation, current legislation requires consent from the relatives of the deceased before organs can be donated, and research has suggested that the increased rate of organ donation should be attributed to the actions of the National Transplant Organization and not the legislative approach. [6]
CES is currently creating a documentary film which chronicles the struggles of American Steve Lessin as he negotiates end stage renal disease.
Though the project is still in early stages of development, CES intends to study the medical and healthcare needs of American veterans, including reintegration into society, as well as the readiness of the US healthcare system to accommodate the needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Special attention will be paid to the need for mental health care, as a higher percentage of returning soldiers are experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder than from previous military operations. [7]
Starting in the Fall of 2009 CES will publish Legal Trends in Bioethics through its website. Previously a column in the quarterly Journal of Clinical Ethics, Legal Trends tracks developments in the field of bioethics. "Through publication on the Internet, the information provided by the column will be more up-to-date and relevant for anyone interested in tracking legal issues in bioethics." [8] Past editions authored by Sigrid Fry-Revere will also be available through the website.[ permanent dead link ]

Quick Facts Sheet on Kidney Disease and the Organ Shortage [ permanent dead link ]

Quick Facts Sheet on PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) and TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) [ permanent dead link ]

Proposed projects

This project explores social attitudes towards and public awareness of the need for pain management with potentially addictive opiates for patients with end-of-life or serious chronic pain.
CES plans to examine whether patient advocacy can or should be integrated into common healthcare practices. Currently, the private sector offers private advocates who oversee customers' medical care and act as liaisons between patients and healthcare providers, but this service is often financially accessible to only the wealthy. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ donation</span> Process of voluntarily giving away organs

Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ transplantation</span> Medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient

Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location. Organs and/or tissues that are transplanted within the same person's body are called autografts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are called allografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source.

Bioethics is the study of the ethical issues emerging from advances in biology, medicine and technologies. It proposes the discussion about moral discernment in society and it is often related to medical policy and practice, but also to broader questions as environment and well-being. Bioethics is concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, theology and philosophy. It includes the study of values relating to primary care, other branches of medicine, ethical education in science, animal, and environmental ethics.

Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. These values include the respect for autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. Such tenets may allow doctors, care providers, and families to create a treatment plan and work towards the same common goal. It is important to note that these four values are not ranked in order of importance or relevance and that they all encompass values pertaining to medical ethics. However, a conflict may arise leading to the need for hierarchy in an ethical system, such that some moral elements overrule others with the purpose of applying the best moral judgement to a difficult medical situation. Medical ethics is particularly relevant in decisions regarding involuntary treatment and involuntary commitment.

Prior to the introduction of brain death into law in the mid to late 1970s, all organ transplants from cadaveric donors came from non-heart-beating donors (NHBDs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xenotransplantation</span> Transplantation of cells or tissue across species

Xenotransplantation, or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants. It is contrasted with allotransplantation, syngeneic transplantation or isotransplantation and autotransplantation.

Kidney transplantation Medical procedure

Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the donor organ. Living-donor kidney transplants are further characterized as genetically related (living-related) or non-related (living-unrelated) transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.

Linda MacDonald Glenn is an American bioethicist, healthcare educator, lecturer, consultant, and attorney-at-law. Her academic research encompasses the legal, ethical, and social impact of emerging and exponential technologies and "evolving notions of personhood".

Organ procurement is a surgical procedure that removes organs or tissues for reuse, typically for organ transplantation.

National Organ Transplant Act of 1984

The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984 is an Act of the United States Congress which established the framework for the U.S. organ transplant system. The act clarified the property rights of human organs from deceased individuals and created a public-private partnership known as the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which was empowered to manage organ allocation on a national basis.

Sigrid Fry-Revere Bioethicist

Sigrid Fry-Revere is a medical ethicist and lawyer who has worked on many issues in patient care ethics, but most recently has been working on the rights of living organ donors.

Organ trade is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), organ trade is a commercial transplantation where there is a profit, or transplantations that occur outside of national medical systems. There is a global need or demand for healthy body parts for transplantation, which exceeds the numbers available.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body, which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991, the Council is funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The Council has been described by the media as a 'leading ethics watchdog', which 'never shrinks from the unthinkable'.

Many different major religious groups and denominations have varying views on organ donation of a deceased and live bodies, depending on their ideologies. Differing opinions can arise depending on if the death is categorized as brain death or cease of the heartbeat. It is important for doctors and health care providers to be knowledgeable about differentiating theological and cultural views on death and organ donations as nations are becoming more multicultural.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidney trade in Iran</span> Legal and government-regulated practice in Iran

The practice of selling one's kidney for profit in Iran is legal and regulated by the government. In any given year, it is estimated that 1400 Iranians sell one of their kidneys to a recipient who was previously unknown to them. Iran currently is the only country in the world that allows the sale of one's kidney for compensation ; consequently, the country does not have either a waiting list or a shortage of available organs.

The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, founded in 1981, is a non-profit clinical medical ethics research institute based in the United States. Founded by its director, Mark Siegler, the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics aims to improve patient care and outcomes by promoting research in clinical medical ethics by educating physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals and by helping University of Chicago Medicine patients, families, and health care providers identify and resolve ethical dilemmas. The center has trained over 410 fellows, including many physicians, attorneys, PhDs and bioethicists.

In bioethics, ethics of organ transplantation refers to the ethical concerns on organ transplantation procedures. Both the source and method of obtaining the organ to transplant are major ethical issues to consider, as well as the notion of distributive justice.

Organ donation in the United States prison population is the donation of biological tissues or organs from incarcerated individuals to living recipients in need of a transplantation.

Transplant coordinator is a healthcare professional – doctor, nurse, or allied health science graduate who coordinates activities related to organ donation and transplantation. Transplant coordinators can either be Donor Coordinators or Recipient Coordinators.

Wendy Anne Rogers is a professor of clinical ethics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She was nominated as one of Nature's 10 people who mattered in 2019 for revealing ethical failures in China’s studies on organ transplantation.

References

  1. 1 2 "Center for Ethical Solutions, Inc" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 Ghods, Ahad J., and Shekoufeh Savaj. 2006. Iranian Model of Paid and Regulated Living-Unrelated Kidney Donation. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 1, no. 6 (November 1): 1136-1145. doi : 10.2215/CJN.00700206.
  3. ↑ Griffin, Anne. 2007. Kidneys on demand. BMJ 334, no. 7592 (March 10): 502-505. doi : 10.1136/bmj.39141.493148.94.
  4. ↑ Gil-Díaz, Carlos. 2009. Spain's Record Organ Donations: Mining Moral Conviction. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 18, no. 03: 256-261. doi : 10.1017/S0963180109090410.
  5. ↑ "The Spanish Model Archived June 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ". Organización Nacional de Trasplantes. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  6. ↑ UK Organ donation taskforce report The potential impact of an opt out system for organ donation in the UK, page 22.
  7. ↑ The Associated Press (2004-06-30). 1 in 8 returning soldiers suffers from PTSD. NBC News. Retrieved on 2009-07-06.
  8. ↑ Taken from CATO-at-Liberty blog. http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2007/09/23/legal-trends-in-bioethics/ Archived 2009-08-15 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 31 August 2009.
  9. ↑ Lloyd, Christopher (2009-02-02). Entrepreneurs pursuing patient advocacy trend. AllBusiness. Retrieved on 2009-07-06.
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