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100 great medical ethics topics for a research project.

Medical Ethics Topics

One of the most important aspects of writing a great assignment in medicine is coming up with a great topic. There are endless issues and debates that are worth discussing, but we know that students do not always have the time to find medical ethics topics that meet their requirements. This list of medical ethics topics that was put together by our academic experts can be modified to fit numerous situations.

Medical Ethics Essay Topics for College Students

The following medical ethics paper topics are suited for students that have mastered the skill of researching and writing. They are designed for college students that have the time and dedication to put in the work craft a great assignment:

  • Doctor withholding information from families for extended periods.
  • Testing fetuses for birth defects to determine abortion cases.
  • The obligation to treat prisoners serving life-term sentences.
  • The federal mandate to treat prisoners with degenerative diseases.
  • Donating organs to relatives in lower need versus non-relatives with greater need.
  • Privacy rights for minors getting abortions without parental consent.
  • Patients’ rights to refuse treatment in any state.
  • The right to refuse an organ donation without a medical reason.
  • The point in which an unborn baby is considered alive.
  • Importance of physical health in medical professionals to provide treatment.

Medical Ethics Topics for Essay in Graduate School

The following topics in medical ethics are catered to students at the graduate level. They will require a lot of research and may take several weeks to complete:

  • Access to birth control for minors without parental consent.
  • Terminating a pregnancy because of a birth defect.
  • The ethics in allowing medical students to be more proactive.
  • End-of-life care patients and access to nutrition.
  • Advance directives and non-resuscitation orders.
  • The negative impact a physician’s stress level can have on patients.
  • The ethical way of using social media in medicine.
  • How social media has enabled individuals to seek medical care.
  • The impact online communication has on patient-physician relationships.
  • Patient favor or gift exchange for special treatment.

Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics for Ph.D. Students

When you work on a Ph.D. you will likely be conduct research on what will become the foundation of your professional expertise. Consider these topics for a Ph.D. capstone project in your area of interest:

  • The ethics of treating patients without insurance.
  • The best way to address disparities in health care.
  • Approaches to dealing with patients that do not want treatment.
  • Methods for working with surrogate decision-makers.
  • Required use of masks during pandemics.
  • The Covid-19 vaccine and its implied risks.
  • Malpractice cases and the right for doctors to return to work.
  • The use of animals to test potentially harmful medications.
  • Using technology to conduct open-heart surgery.
  • Artificial intelligence to minimize human risk.

Current Medical Ethics Topics for 2023

These medical ethics topics for research papers are what are being discussed in the community today. From medical malpractice to Covid-19, you will find the latest issues here:

  • Overtime payments and fees for doctors.
  • Assisted suicide and affordable health.
  • The risks of selective reproduction.
  • Allowing technologies to monitor a patient’s health.
  • Saving the life of a pregnant woman while putting an unborn child at risk.
  • Human donor lists and the priority assigned to recipients.
  • HIV/AIDS testing and counseling for teenagers.
  • Challenges posed in family planning decisions.
  • The quality of care for low-income families.
  • Organ donation and ethnic preference.

Controversial Medical Ethics Topics in the News

Here are some medical debate topics ethics that are controversial and should generate a lot of interest from the reading community. Just be sure you conduct ample research to guarantee you are finding and using the latest information:

  • The vaccine against Covid-19 should be mandatory.
  • Criminal charges for accidental treatment deaths.
  • The impact stem cell research has on curing diseases.
  • The increase of biohackers around the world.
  • The risk of having genetic and medical data stolen.
  • Physician liability and legal responsibilities.
  • Patient information and privacy laws.
  • Patients’ rights to refuse types of treatment.
  • Organ and tissue transplant oversight laws.
  • The impact that bioterrorism has on people.

Medical Ethics Topics for Debate or Presentation

These medical ethics debate topics explore some more serious issues requiring students to think outside-of-the-box and to challenge themselves by developing logical and interesting presentations:

  • Acquiring patient’s private data for predictive analysis.
  • How to protect patient data through de-anonymization.
  • Current regulations provide adequate privacy protection.
  • Big data risks of exposing patient private information.
  • Limitations of patient information gathered through databases.
  • How to protect patients from inherent bias used in public health analysis.
  • Concerns with forced immunization around the world.
  • The effectiveness of the response to global pandemics.
  • The differences in medical ethics around the world.
  • International ethics in the global community.

Medical Law and Ethics Topics for 2023

Topics in medical law change drastically from year to year. We have gathered the current hot topics related to this field and trust that you will find something you like:

  • Laws that protect the well-being of patients.
  • Medical negligence in cases of death.
  • The rights of patients undergoing surgery.
  • Preliminary agreements before invasive surgery.
  • Ethical dilemmas that arise when acknowledging patients’ requests.
  • Ethical standards across the United States.
  • The importance of medical ethics in today’s world.
  • The best way to monitor ethics in the medical field.
  • The challenges of practicing medicine internationally.
  • Cultural differences in medical decisions and law.

Medical Ethics Topics for Discussion or Presentation

This medical ethics topics list is perfect for any student that has to participate in a round-table discussion or conduct a presentation on the impact that medical ethics has on society:

  • The ethical question regarding preventative medicine.
  • End-of-care decisions regarding patient comfort and care.
  • Religious beliefs contradict medical decisions and put patients at risk.
  • Medical ethics versus cultural bias across the United States.
  • Ethical questions when treating the mentally disabled.
  • How to deal with medical ethics in third-world countries.
  • The moral and ethical questions of treating patients without healthcare.
  • The connection between poor health and financial status.
  • The cost of healthcare in developed countries versus undeveloped countries.
  • The major factors that drive the costs of healthcare in the U.S.

Medical Ethics Issues Topics for a Quick Project

There are plenty of reasons why students would need to find a topic they can research and write about in a short amount of time. Consider these ideas for a quick turnaround:

  • The right to attain complete medical information despite age.
  • The obligation to report instances of alleged organ trafficking.
  • The right for patients to have access to all medical records after the age of 15.
  • Child vaccination is a mandatory requirement of all legal residents.
  • The ethics behind using surrogate pregnancies on-demand versus health reasons.
  • Giving the homeless population free healthcare across the United States.
  • A patient’s right to refuse treatment for religious purposes.
  • How to improve the selection process in which donor recipients are selected.
  • Encouraging patients to use homeopathy remedies before medicine.
  • Accepting eastern medical practices to help patient rehabilitation.

Medical Ethics Research Topics for a Dissertation

Dissertations are long projects that can take several months to several years to complete. Be sure to consider a topic that you know you can handle and one that will make working with your advisor a positive experience:

  • Allowing patients to opt-in or opt-out of the donor system in specific circumstances.
  • The legalization of doctor-assisted suicide is a federal right in the United States.
  • The advancements in technology improve the accuracy of treatments.
  • Patient confidentiality and treatment during the Covid-19 global pandemic.
  • Genetic testing, precision medicine, patient privacy, and confidentially challenges.
  • The extent to which people without healthcare should be provided services.
  • The international medical community during times of war.
  • Different examples of cultural humility and volunteerism around the world.
  • Moral and ethical obligations physicians have to society regardless of country.
  • The effect of data breaches on the doctor and patient relationship.

For more good medical ethics research topics, contact our support staff who can connect you with a qualified academic professional in this field. He or she can find topics for medical ethics paper to fit any situation and academic level. We are available to help 24/7 and can be reached conveniently by chat, email, and telephone.

Nutrition Research Topics

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medical ethics topics for research paper

60 of The Finest Medical Ethics Paper Topics (2023)

Medical Ethics Paper Topics

Medicine is a technical subject that requires keen attention to detail in everything. Your instructor expects a top-quality paper from you, yet you do not know where to start. Our pros have put together a list of medical ethics research paper topics to get you on track. But first, how should topics for medical ethics paper look like for top-grade papers? Here are tips and tricks from our writers who have been dealing with such topics for decades:

It should deal with a specific medical problem Avoid too much jargon in your topic It should address the latest medical needs of society Do not write on an already existing medical topic.

It’s never easy coming up with excellent medical ethics topics for your research project. However, we have a team of professional writers who came up with pro-tips for identifying top-notch ethics topics in medicine. They include:

  • Conduct extensive research before settling on a topic
  • Identify the length of your paper
  • Check the relevance and currency of the topic
  • Use the help of a professional research paper writing service

You can be sure that if you abide by the guidelines above, you can find more topics in medical ethics than you thought. Are you ready to explore some of our amazing medical ethics issues topics? Scroll down.

Medical Argumentative Topics

  • Should everyone put on a mask while outdoors?
  • Do you agree that finding the coronavirus vaccine can take less than a year?
  • Can a doctor who has been fired open his/her clinic?
  • Is it right for laboratories to use rats or guinea pigs as a specimen for vaccines?
  • Are robots replacing the roles of nurses and doctors in hospitals?
  • Should doctors receive allowances for working extra hours?

Biomedical Ethics Topics For Papers

  • Is it ethical to carry out assisted suicide in hospitals?
  • The implications of conducting selective reproduction
  • Ethical issues surrounding the acquisition of human organs
  • Contemporary ethical challenges in family-making
  • Ethical aspects when dealing with HIV/Aids counselling and testing
  • Biomedical ethics in saving the life of a pregnant woman

Controversial Medical Ethics Topics

  • Should people from low-income families receive poor healthcare services?
  • Is it ethical for people to donate parts of their organs when they are still alive?
  • Should we trust a coronavirus vaccine that comes before 15 months?
  • Do medical errors resulting in death amount to a criminal offence?
  • Should we consider the subject of abortion from the mother’s or child’s perspective?
  • Is it possible to maintain the confidentiality of medical records in the digital age?

Medical Argumentative Topics For College Students

  • Are stem cell and genetic research the cause of devastating diseases?
  • Why did hospitals get out of space during the outbreak of COVID-19?
  • Should the relief of suffering at the end of life have a place in hospitals?
  • Is it possible for doctors to develop conflicts of interest with patients?
  • Should morticians receive mandatory psychological counselling?
  • Can we have a disease-free world?

Therefore, no matter what topic you’ve chosen, our professional writers ready to write a research paper for you . 

Ethical Dilemma Paper Topics

  • How to deal with religious beliefs that are against science
  • Medical ethics and how cultural bias causes a dilemma
  • The best medical ethics when caring for mentally disabled patients
  • What should be done to doctors when they fail to observe office ethics and standards?
  • How to deal with varying medical ethics in different countries
  • Should doctors end the lives of patients who are suffering?

Bioethics Paper Topics

  • Are physicians accountable to their patients for their actions?
  • Ways in which doctors can talk to patients who are in their final stages of life
  • How to advise a patient who refuses to undergo an HIV test
  • What happens when treatment becomes futile?
  • How long should it take doctors to report an infectious disease?
  • Should we consider medical mistakes like any other mistake at work?

Ethical Dilemma Topics For High School Students

  • Should a doctor tell the patient about a mistake done during treatment?
  • What happens when a surgeon performs surgery at the wrong place?
  • Should patients pay for coronavirus treatment in private hospitals?
  • Should we have male nurses in maternity wards?
  • What happens when a doctor causes the death of a patient?
  • Does lack of trust affect the treatment process?

Healthcare Ethics Topics

  • Why does immunization raise a lot of ethical issues globally?
  • The ethics behind planning, preparing and responding to global health pandemics
  • Why doctors should respect a patient’s choice of tuberculosis treatment option
  • Is human genome editing ethical?
  • Privacy of patient records while using Big data
  • Healthcare options for the ageing

Medical Law and Ethics Topics

  • Effective abortion laws and legislation
  • Laws that protect patients with disabilities
  • Medical laws on slaughtering and slaughterhouses
  • Does anyone have a right to die?
  • Laws that regulate transplantations of tissues and organs
  • The physician’s liability according to medical laws

Interesting Bioethics Topics

  • Genetic and medical data privacy
  • Cyber-attacks on medical systems and devices
  • The rise of bio-hackers
  • Devastating effects of bioterrorism
  • What happens when a patient refuses treatment?
  • With-holding patient’s information and telling the truth

We hope that the medical ethics topics above help you get your paper started. If you get stuck, we have expert writing help for students of all levels. Just contact us and buy a research paper online . Let us assist you to attain that A-grade quick and fast! 

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  • v.5(9); 2014 Sep

Ethics in Medical Research and Publication

Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ajla Hodzic

Smaila mulic.

To present the basic principles and standards of Ethics in medical research and publishing, as well as the need for continuing education in the principles and ethics in science and publication in biomedicine. An analysis of relevant materials and documents, sources from the published literature. Investing in education of researches and potential researches, already in the level of medical schools. Educating them on research ethics, what constitutes research misconduct and the seriousness of it repercussion is essential for finding a solution to this problem and ensuring careers are constructed on honesty and integrity.

INTRODUCTION

Science is a key link in the educational system, it is part of the culture of the nation, further on it contributes to overall well-being and security in everyday life, and represents a source of real knowledge of mankind. In most cases, the scientist is a person of exceptional diligence, which is at the same time, very focused on what it does. If one deals with the scientific work, can significantly improve the human condition; thus, it will make a great effort and sacrifice many daily pleasures.[ 1 ]

PRINCIPLES OF WRITING A SCIENTIFIC PAPER

Scientific research demands precision.[ 2 , 3 , 4 ] Scientific writing should respect this precision in the form of clarity. Unfortunately, a glance at almost any scientific journal will reveal that the above-stated ideal is often not attained in the real world of scholarly publication.[ 5 , 6 ] Indeed, many of the accusations by nonscientific of “obscurity” and “elitism” within the scientific community probably originate in the sad fact that many scientists are not capable of expressing their hypotheses and conclusions clearly and simply.[ 7 ]

The scientific way of thinking and application of scientific methods require honesty, criticality, trust, creativity and openness, and acceptance of these principles as desirable prerequisites for successful engagement in science by students and young researchers, qualifying research institution that produces competent promoters (initiators) for the future technological cultural and political development of society.[ 1 ]

Defining principles of good scientific and good laboratory practice should encourage the development of standardized principles and guidelines for accurate and quality data in scientific research.[ 1 ]

The text of observational and experimental articles is usually divided into sections in accordance with so-called “IMRAD” structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Papers related to public health programs and practice might have different than IMRAD structure (drug). There is a key question for each section of the IMRAD structure of the paper, which an author needs to keep in mind, while writing the manuscript.[ 6 ]

Title of the scientific paper contains a brief description of the content. The title should accurately describe the content of the article. There are two types of titles: Indicative title talks about the work that covers and informative title-convey the message of the article and recommended for beginners. A good title should be: (a) Short, (b) correct, (c) a clear, (d) complete, (e) informing, (d) attractive. It should also include: Characteristics of the article, showing what is most important in the work. It is necessary to specify the names of the authors and their affiliations.

Abstract/summary and title can be written in two forms: Reference and Information. It can be written in author's native language and English. The structure of the summary should look like this: Introduction, goal, materials and methods, the location of the study, measuring the outcomes of the study, the results and conclusions.

Summary is the distillate of which will be presented and should show: What has been done, what are the results, what the results means. Writing an introduction has its own rules: A clear definition of a the problem, why exactly this issue was explored, there is no need to explain what can be found in the textbooks, do not need to explain the terms of the title.

Materials and Methods describe how the study was conducted and the characteristics of the sample (experimental group, controls, and their properties). It is necessary to explain what is researched, asked, tested as follows: Sampling (random, consecutive, and representative), the sample size (patient gender, age), the control group, and the criteria for exclusion from the study, the control group if any.

It should be described how the research was done: Type of study (prospective, retrospective or combined), data collection (surveys, inventory or checkup), the technique of measuring results (operative treatment, laboratory tests). It is necessary to specify where the research was conducted. Results are an important part of writing an article.

The research results are usually most carefully read and should be a detailed plan, well-documented at the optimal dose. Discussion is a critical review of the data described in the results. He results should be compared with other findings and discuss the theoretical and practical research outcome. Conclusion should be short, clear and precise. It is necessary to: Make the final statement of what logically follows from the results of the work, list only the most important and give the message. Good conclusions should not surprise attentive reader. The reader should get the impression that he himself had written it. References should be in accordance with the instructions provided by the journal, and otherwise used Vancouver or Harvard citation style.[ 8 ]

Papers related to public health programs and practice might have different than IMRAD structure. Anyhow, the paper should be written in logical order consisting informative or indicative title, an introductory section with description of the subject or public health problem and objectives, the current status or situation, recommended or realized program and activities, lessons learned, experiences, results and recommendations, and finally conclusions and a list of references. Special importance and validity have papers which describe new practice, approach and activities, have clear description, design of the practice, approach and activities, offers possibilities for implementation of the practice, approach and activities in other settings and environments, presents the experiences gained, lessons learned, and recommendations.[ 7 ]

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS

The World Medical Association (WMA) has developed the Declaration of Helsinki [ Figure 1 ] as a statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, including research on identifiable human material and data. Consistent with the mandate of the WMA, the declaration is addressed primarily to physicians. The WMA encourages others who are involved in medical research involving human subjects to adopt these principles:[ 9 ]

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The Declaration of Helsinki. Retrieved from: New edition of Declaration of Helsinki Available: http://www. hopitalmontfort.com/en/new-edition-declaration-helsinki

General principles

The Declaration of Geneva of the WMA binds the physician with the words, “The health of my patient will be my first consideration”, and the International Code of Medical Ethics declares that, “A physician shall act in the patient's best interest when providing medical care”.

It is the duty of the physician to promote and safeguard the health, well-being and rights of patients, including those who are involved in medical research. The physician's knowledge and conscience are dedicated to the fulfillment of this duty.

Medical progress is based on research that ultimately must include studies involving human subjects. The primary purpose of medical research involving human subjects is to understand the causes, development and effects of diseases and improve preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (methods, procedures, and treatments). Even the best proven interventions must be evaluated continually through research for their safety, effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, and quality.

Medical research is subject to ethical standards that promote and ensure respect for all human subjects and protect their health and rights.

While the primary purpose of medical research is to generate new knowledge, this goal can never take precedence over the rights and interests of individual research subjects.

It is the duty of physicians who are involved in medical research to protect the life, health, dignity, integrity, right to self-determination, privacy, and confidentiality of personal information of research subjects. The responsibility for the protection of research subjects must always rest with the physician or other health care professionals and never with the research subjects, even though they have given consent.

Physicians must consider the ethical, legal and regulatory norms and standards for research involving human subjects in their own countries as well as applicable international norms and standards. No national or international ethical, legal or regulatory requirement should reduce or eliminate any of the protections for research subjects set forth in this declaration.

Medical research should be conducted in a manner that minimizes possible harm to the environment. Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted only by individuals with the appropriate ethics and scientific education, training and qualifications. Research on patients or healthy volunteers requires the supervision of a competent and appropriately qualified physician or other health care professional.

Groups that are underrepresented in medical research should be provided appropriate access to participation in research.

Physicians who combine medical research with medical care should involve their patients in research only to the extent that this is justified by its potential preventive, diagnostic or therapeutic value and if the physician has good reason to believe that participation in the research study will not adversely affect the health of the patients who serve as research subjects.

Appropriate compensation and treatment for subjects who are harmed as a result of participating in research must be ensured.

Risks, burdens and benefits

In medical practice and in medical research, most interventions involve risks and burdens. Medical research involving human subjects may only be conducted if the importance of the objective outweighs the risks and burdens to the research subjects.

All medical research involving human subjects must be preceded by careful assessment of predictable risks and burdens to the individuals and groups involved in the research in comparison with foreseeable benefits to them and to other individuals or groups affected by the condition under investigation. Measures to minimize the risks must be implemented. The risks must be continuously monitored, assessed and documented by the researcher. Physicians may not be involved in a research study involving human subjects unless they are confident that the risks have been adequately assessed and can be satisfactorily managed.

When the risks are found to outweigh the potential benefits or when there is conclusive proof of definitive outcomes, physicians must assess whether to continue, modify or immediately stop the study.

Vulnerable groups and individuals

Some groups and individuals are particularly vulnerable and may have an increased likelihood of being wronged or of incurring additional harm. All vulnerable groups and individuals should receive specifically considered protection.

Medical research with a vulnerable group is only justified if the research is responsive to the health needs or priorities of this group and the research cannot be carried out in a nonvulnerable group. In addition, this group should stand to benefit from the knowledge, practices or interventions that result from the research.

Scientific requirements and research protocols

Medical research involving human subjects must conform to generally accepted scientific principles, be based on a thorough knowledge of the scientific literature, other relevant sources of information, and adequate laboratory and as appropriate, animal experimentation. The welfare of animals used for research must be respected. The design and performance of each research study involving human subjects must be clearly described and justified in a research protocol.

The protocol should contain:

  • A statement of the ethical considerations involved and should indicate how the principles in this declaration have been addressed
  • Information regarding funding, sponsors, institutional affiliations, potential conflicts of interest, incentives for subjects and information regarding provisions for treating and/or compensating subjects who are harmed as a consequence of participation in the research study.

In clinical trials, the protocol must also describe appropriate arrangements for posttrial provisions.

Research ethics committees

The research protocol must be submitted for consideration, comment, guidance and approval to the concerned Research Ethics Committee before the study begins. This committee must be transparent in its functioning, must be independent of the researcher, the sponsor and any other undue influence and must be duly qualified. It must take into consideration the laws and regulations of the country or countries in which the research is to be performed as well as applicable international norms and standards, but these must not be allowed to reduce or eliminate any of the protections for research subjects set forth in this declaration.

The committee must have the right to monitor ongoing studies. The researcher must provide monitoring information to the committee, especially information about any serious adverse events. No amendment to the protocol may be made without consideration and approval by the committee. After the end of the study, the researchers must submit a final report to the committee containing a summary of the study's findings and conclusions.

Privacy and confidentiality

Every precaution must be taken to protect the privacy of research subjects and the confidentiality of their personal information.

Informed consent

Participation by individuals capable of giving informed consent as subjects in medical research must be voluntary. Although it may be appropriate to consult family members or community leaders, no individual capable of giving informed consent may be enrolled in a research study unless he or she freely agrees.

In medical research involving human subjects capable of giving informed consent, each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, sources of funding, any possible conflicts of interest, institutional affiliations of the researcher, the anticipated benefits and potential risks of the study and the discomfort it may entail, poststudy provisions and any other relevant aspects of the study. The potential subject must be informed of the right to refuse to participate in the study or to withdraw consent to participate at any time without reprisal. Special attention should be given to the specific information needs of individual potential subjects as well as to the methods used to deliver the information.

After ensuring that the potential subject has understood the information, the physician or another appropriately qualified individual must then seek the potential subject's freely-given informed consent, preferably in writing. If the consent cannot be expressed in writing, the nonwritten consent must be formally documented and witnessed. All medical research subjects should be given the option of being informed about the general outcome and results of the study.

When seeking informed consent for participation in a research study the physician must be particularly cautious if the potential subject is in a dependent relationship with the physician or may consent under duress. In such situations the informed consent must be sought by an appropriately qualified individual who is completely independent of this relationship.

For a potential research subject who is incapable of giving informed consent, the physician must seek informed consent from the legally authorized representative. These individuals must not be included in a research study that has no likelihood of benefit for them unless it is intended to promote the health of the group represented by the potential subject, the research cannot instead be performed with persons capable of providing informed consent, and the research entails only minimal risk and minimal burden. When a potential research subject who is deemed incapable of giving informed consent is able to give assent to decisions about participation in research, the physician must seek that assent in addition to the consent of the legally authorized representative. The potential subject's dissent should be respected.

Research involving subjects who are physically or mentally incapable of giving consent, for example, unconscious patients, may be done only if the physical or mental condition that prevents giving informed consent is a necessary characteristic of the research group. In such circumstances the physician must seek informed consent from the legally authorized representative. If no such representative is available and if the research cannot be delayed, the study may proceed without informed consent provided that the specific reasons for involving subjects with a condition that renders them unable to give informed consent have been stated in the research protocol and the study has been approved by a Research Ethics Committee. Consent to remain in the research must be obtained as soon as possible from the subject or a legally authorized representative.

The physician must fully inform the patient, which aspects of their care are related to the research. The refusal of a patient to participate in a study or the patient's decision to withdraw from the study must never adversely affect the patient-physician relationship.

For medical research using identifiable human material or data, such as research on material or data contained in bio banks or similar repositories, physicians must seek informed consent for its collection, storage and/or reuse. There may be exceptional situations where consent would be impossible or impracticable to obtain for such research. In such situations, the research may be done only after consideration and approval of a Research Ethics Committee.

Use of placebo

The benefits, risks, burdens and effectiveness of a new intervention must be tested against those of the best proven intervention(s), except in the following circumstances:

Where no proven intervention exists, the use of placebo, or no intervention, is acceptable; or where for compelling and scientifically sound methodological reasons the use of any intervention less effective than the best proven one, the use of placebo, or no intervention is necessary to determine the efficacy or safety of an intervention and the patients who receive any intervention less effective than the best proven one, placebo, or no intervention will not be subject to additional risks of serious or irreversible harm as a result of not receiving the best proven intervention. Extreme care must be taken to avoid abuse of this option.

Posttrial provisions

In advance of a clinical trial, sponsors, researchers and host country governments should make provisions for posttrial access for all participants who still need an intervention identified as beneficial in the trial. This information must also be disclosed to participants during the informed consent process.

Research registration and publication and dissemination of results

Every research study involving human subjects must be registered in a publicly accessible database before recruitment of the first subject. Researchers, authors, sponsors, editors and publishers all have ethical obligations with regard to the publication and dissemination of the results of research. Researchers have a duty to make publicly available the results of their research on human subjects and are accountable for the completeness and accuracy of their reports. All parties should adhere to accepted guidelines for ethical reporting. Negative and inconclusive as well as positive results must be published or otherwise made publicly available. Sources of funding, institutional affiliations and conflicts of interest must be declared in the publication. Reports of research not in accordance with the principles of this declaration should not be accepted for publication.

Unproven interventions in clinical practice

In the treatment of an individual patient, where proven interventions do not exist or other known interventions have been ineffective, the physician, after seeking expert advice, with informed consent from the patient or a legally authorized representative, may use an unproven intervention if in the physician's judgment it offers hope of saving life, re-establishing health or alleviating suffering. This intervention should subsequently be made the object of research, designed to evaluate its safety and efficacy. In all cases, new information must be recorded and where appropriate, made publicly available.[ 9 ]

PUBLICATION ETHICS

Academic publishing depends, to a great extent, on trust. Editors trust peer reviewers to provide fair assessments, authors trust editors to select appropriate peer reviewers, and readers put their trust in the peer-review process. Academic publishing also occurs in an environment of powerful intellectual, financial, and sometimes political interests that may collide or compete. Good decisions and strong editorial processes designed to manage these interests will foster a sustainable and efficient publishing system, which will benefit academic societies, journal editors, authors, research funders, readers, and publishers.

Good publication practices do not develop by chance, and will become established only if they are actively promoted.[ 10 ]

The general principles of publication ethics are:

Transparency

Sources of funding for research or publication should always be disclosed. Editors should state this directly in their editorial policy. Authors should routinely include information about research funding in all papers they prepare for publication. Where a clinical trial registration number is available, this should be included.

Authorship acknowledgment

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) provides a definition of authorship that is applicable beyond the medical sector. The ICMJE authorship criteria state ‘authorship credit should be based on:

  • Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
  • Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
  • Final approval of the version to be published.

Authors of research papers should state whether they had complete access to the study data that support the publication. Contributors who do not qualify as authors should also be listed and their particular contribution described. This information should appear as an acknowledgment. Sample authorship description/acknowledgment. Collecting authorship information for research papers, authorship should be decided at the study launch. Policing authorship is beyond the responsibilities of an editor. Editors should demand transparent and complete descriptions of who has contributed to a paper.

Editors should employ appropriate systems to inform contributors about authorship criteria (if used) and/or to obtain accurate information about individuals’ contributions.

Editors should ask authors to submit, as part of their initial submission package, a statement that all individuals listed as authors meet the appropriate authorship criteria, that nobody who qualifies for authorship has been omitted from the list, and that contributors and their funding sources have been properly acknowledged, and that authors and contributors have approved the acknowledgment of their contribution.

Attributing authorship to a group

The ICMJE provides guidance for instances where a number of authors report on behalf of a larger group of investigators.[ 1 ]

This guidance is applicable outside the medical sector.

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors guidance states: “When a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above… When submitting a group author manuscript, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and should clearly identify all individual authors as well as the group name”. The individual authors who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript should list the members of the larger authorship group in an appendix to their acknowledgment.

Protecting research subjects

Journals should ask authors to state that the study they are submitting was approved by the relevant Research Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board. If human participants were involved, manuscripts must be accompanied by a statement that the experiments were undertaken with the understanding and appropriate informed consent of each.

Editors should reserve the right to reject papers if there is doubt whether appropriate procedures have been followed. If a paper has been submitted from a country where there is no Ethics Committee, Institutional Review Board, or similar review and approval, editors should use their own experience to judge whether the paper should be published. If the decision is made to publish a paper under these circumstances a short statement should be included to explain the situation.[ 10 ]

THE MAIN FORMS OF SCIENTIFIC AND PUBLISHING MISCONDUCT

The Oxford English Dictionary describes fraud as “wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain” and deceit as “the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth”.[ 11 ]

Research organizations and the literature have defined these behavioral patterns within the umbrella title of “Research Misconduct”.[ 12 ]

There are three major and most severe forms of scientific fraud, scientific and publishing dishonesty or misconduct, in proposing, conducting or evaluation of research and presentation of the research results:

  • Inventing data and results (fabrication);
  • Alteration or changing the results (falsification); and
  • Plagiarism (plagiarism), including self-plagiarism (self-plagiarism), fragmented, repetitive and double publication (duplicate publication).

Besides these, there are a number of other kinds of misconduct that scientists should know how to recognize and avoid that is, “pathology” of authorship, conflict of interest, conflicts of loyalty, “pathological” science, etc.

In the process of publishing scientific papers, it is important to know how a completed research should be described in a scientific paper.[ 6 ]

Falsification/fabrication of data

The integrity of research depends on the integrity of the data and the data record. As falsification and fabrication call into question the integrity of data and the data record, they represent serious issues in scientific ethics. Falsification is the practice of omitting or altering research materials, equipment, data, or processes in such a way that the results of the research are no longer accurately reflected in the research record. Fabrication is the practice of inventing data or results and recording and/or reporting them in the research record. Both of these schemes are probably among the most serious offenses in scientific research as they challenge the credibility of everyone and everything involved in a research effort.[ 13 ]

However, it is questionable whether a clinical researcher who fabricates data to enroll a terminally ill patient into a trial that ultimately may lead to that individual receiving treatment that may prolong their life should receive the same penalty as someone fabricating data for their own professional gain.[ 14 ]

These offenses make it very difficult for scientists to move forward as it is unclear to anyone what if anything is true and can be trusted-can lead students and colleagues to waste precious time, effort, and resources investigating dead ends.[ 13 ]

The term plagiarism stems from the Latin word plagium, meaning kidnapping a man. It literary means theft, taking material authored by others and presenting as someone else’ Plagiarism is basically intended to deceive the reader's. Izet Masic reminded of the comment of Samuel Johnson, dealing with a manuscript that he sent for evaluation: “Your work is both good and original. Unfortunately the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good”.[ 13 ]

Referring to the United States’ Office of Research Integrity (ORI) definition of plagiarism, which is “unattributed textual copying”, many have questioned its applicability in real life situations. One definition of plagiarism suggests it is the repetition of 11 words or the overlap of 30 letter strings, although this is by no means a standard definition. Furthermore, “salami-slicing”-the selective use of research-project results to maximize the number of presentations possible-has also been classed as a type of plagiarism by some, but not by others.[ 14 ]

Plagiarism can be divided into direct (plagiarism of the text); mosaic (the borrowing ideas and opinions from original source and a few verbatim words of phrases without crediting the author) and self-plagiarism (which refers to re-using one's own work without citations).[ 15 ]

Researchers rely on the published data, and have to be skilled to selectively process these data, to incorporate previous knowledge into a new paper, and to distinguish original ideas and research results from already publicized ones. Authors are obliged to follow ethical, moral, and legal regulations acceptable by the scientific community. To do so, they must properly cite relevant publications and quote borrowed published or unpublished ideas and words. Simply, when an author copies others’ text word for word, the borrowed passage should be enclosed in the quotation marks (inverted commas). The reader should be clearly informed over what is original and recycled from other sources.[ 15 ]

Redundant (multiple) publication

Journal instructions should clearly explain what is, and what is not, considered to be prior publication. Journals may choose to accept (i.e. consider “not redundant”) the re-publication of materials that have been accurately translated from an original publication in a different language. Journals that translate and publish material that has been published elsewhere should ensure that they have appropriate permission (s), should indicate clearly that the material has been translated and re-published, and should indicate clearly the original source of the material. Editors may request copies of related publications if they are concerned about overlap and possible redundancy. Re-publishing in the same language as primary publication with the aim of serving different audiences is more difficult to justify when primary publication is electronic and therefore easily accessible, but if editors feel that this is appropriate they should follow the same steps as for translation. Editors should ensure that sub-group analyses, meta-and secondary analyses are clearly identified as analyses of data that have already been published, that they refer directly to the primary source, and that (if available) they include the clinical trial registration number from the primary publication.[ 16 ]

NATIONAL BODIES

One of the oldest organizations dealing with research misconduct is the ORI in the United States. Set up in 1992, it oversees and directs Public Health Service research integrity activities. With a huge budget of $30 billion, it provides significant funds in the areas of health, research, and development, and oversees bodies such as The National Institute of Health and The Office of Public Health and Science.[ 14 ]

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) was established in 1997 by a small group of medical journal editors in the UK, but now has over 7000 members worldwide from all academic fields. Membership is open to editors of academic journals and others interested in publication ethics. Several major publishers (including Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Palgrave Macmillan and Wolters Kluwer) have signed up some, if not all, of their journals as COPE members. COPE provides advice to editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics and in particular, how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. It also provides a forum for its members to discuss individual cases. COPE does not investigate individual cases, but encourages editors to ensure that cases are investigated by the appropriate authorities (usually a research institution or employer).[ 17 ]

The UK Research Integrity Office is another body representing the interests of over 50 universities and organizations dedicated to scientific research. Set up in 2006, its aims are to:

  • Promote the good governance, management, and conduct of academic, scientific, and medical research;
  • Share good practice on how to address poor practice, misconduct, and unethical behavior; and
  • Give confidential, independent, and expert advice and guidance about the conduct of academic, scientific, and medical research.[ 18 ]

CONCLUSIONS

If one wants to create a scientific work, must have on his mind that creating a scientific work requires creativity and openness, honesty, trust, and obeying the ethical principles for writing a scientific paper.

As well an author in medical sciences should always follow the words; “The health of my patient will be my first consideration”, (Declaration of Geneva, Adopted by the 2 nd General Assembly of the WMA, Geneva, Switzerland, September 1948).[ 19 ]

While working on a an biomedical research involving human subjects medical workers should have on mind that it is the duty of the physician to remain the protector of the life and health of that person on whom biomedical research is being carried out.

The subjects should be volunteers-either healthy persons or patients for whom the experimental design is not related to the patient's illness.

The investigator or the investigating team should discontinue the research if in his/her or their judgment it may, if continued, be harmful to the individual.

In research on man, the interest of science and society should never take precedence over considerations related to the well-being of the subject.

Investing in education of researches and potential researches already in the level of medical schools, educating them on research ethics, what constitutes research misconduct and the seriousness of it repercussion is essential for finding a solution to this problem and ensuring careers are constructed on honesty and integrity.

Source of Support: Nil

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

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Top 50 Medical Ethics Topics For All

medical ethics topics

When you need the best medical ethics topics, you should visit our blog. Why? Because our experienced academic writers update the list 50 medical ethics topics periodically. You should be able to find an original topic here almost every time you visit. And remember, our list of medical ethics topics is 100% free to use and will remain so. You are also free to reword any topic as you see fit.

Here Is Why You Need Excellent Medical Ethics Topics

But why would you need our medical ethics topics? The reasons are pretty straightforward actually:

  • An original topic is something your professor will greatly appreciate. You will most often get bonus points.
  • Finding a great topic can help you write a breathtaking medical ethics paper.
  • Most of the topics you find online are not original.
  • There is a great chance that at least one of your classmates has already chosen the topic you want to write about.
  • Our topics in medical ethics are spread between several categories, making it easy for you to find exactly what you are looking for.
  • We update this list quite frequently, so we can help as many students as possible with great ideas for their next academic papers.

Finding Great Medical Ethics Paper Topics Is Not Easy

Let’s face it; you have been searching for some great ideas for quite a long time. You’ve probably realized by now that most topics you find on the Internet are not what you need. And when it comes to medical ethics research topics, things get even more difficult.

Don’t make the mistake of giving your credit card details to a shady website, thinking that you will get access to a list of wonder topics. In order for you to get excellent medical ethics paper topics, an academic writer has to use his knowledge and experience to come up with original ideas. In other words, you need our list.

Medical Ethics Topics for Debate

If your professor has asked you to write an argumentative essay, you are in luck. Our essay writers have compiled a list of 100% original medical ethics topics for debate that you can use right now:

  • Discuss the principle of respect for autonomy
  • Discuss the principle of beneficence
  • Should doctors be allowed to promote specific drugs?
  • Should uninsured people in the US get access to free medical treatment?
  • Providing medical care to a patient who refuses it.
  • People have the right to choose assisted suicide.

Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics

If you are interested in writing a research paper about medical ethics, you need the perfect topic. Fortunately, we have some ideas that will help you a lot. Pick one of our medical ethics research paper topics and start writing your paper:

  • Can we justify the cost of healthcare in the United States?
  • How useful is homeopathy?
  • The most dangerous forms of unconventional medicine.
  • The effects of legalizing marijuana.
  • Big pharma and its effects on the healthcare system in the UK
  • Analyze cultural bias in the United States medical system.

Medical Law and Ethics Topics

Are you looking for the best medical law and ethics topics on the Internet? Do you want some ideas that are fresh and original? Check out some of the best ideas below and choose the one that you like the most:

  • Should pharmaceutical lobbying be illegal?
  • Uninsured people should get medical treatment for free.
  • Medical professionals should/should not be prosecuted for medical errors.
  • Abortion: when can a doctor terminate the pregnancy?
  • Can you refuse to get urgent medical treatment?
  • 3 situations when medics can end a life.

Medical Ethics Topics for Discussion

If you are a college student and you are required to write a discussion essay about medical ethics, we have your back. Check out the medical ethics topics for discussion listed below and choose the best one for your needs:

  • Discuss the principle of nonmaleficence
  • Should homeless people get free medical service?
  • Discuss the principle of justice
  • Should we invest in researching ways to become immortal?
  • Embryonic harvesting should be stopped.
  • When does the life of the fetus begin?
  • Medical ethics in Asian countries vs. Western countries.

Medical Ethics Issues Topics

Would you like to talk about various issues with medical ethics? If you do, our awesome academic writers have out together a list of the most interesting (and original) medical ethics issues topics for you:

  • Incentivizing doctors to prescribe specific medicine should be illegal in the US.
  • The legalization of euthanasia in the United States.
  • Can you refuse a vaccine? Should you?
  • Are doctors required to report cases of organ trafficking?
  • Is the privacy of patients really protected in the United States?
  • Who can access our personal health information in the United Kingdom?

Controversial Medical Ethics Topics

There are plenty of controversies in the medical field, obviously. Did you know that you can get a few bonus points by tackling one of these controversies (your classmates will often not dare to do it)? Pick one of our controversial medical ethics topics right now:

  • Should we be allowed to commit assisted suicide?
  • Here is why vaccination should be mandatory in all states.
  • Should we ban abortion?
  • Ways to decide whether to place somebody in an elderly center.
  • Reasons to refuse somebody an organ transplant.
  • The ethical implications of the womb transplantation procedure.

Ethics in Medical Research

Let’s face it: medical research is very important. However, we also need to consider the ethical aspects of said research. Take a look at these interesting ethics in medical research ideas:

  • The ethical problems of surrogate pregnancy.
  • Should we experiment with human cloning?
  • The dangers of new vaccines.
  • Testing new drugs on animals should be prohibited.
  • What are the threats of medical research?
  • The benefits of genetic engineering.

Covid-19 Topics

Of course, you are more than welcome to discuss Covid-19 in terms of medical ethics. In fact, your professor will really appreciate it, especially if you come up with something innovative to talk about. Here are some ideas:

  • Here is why the quarantine method won’t work.
  • How far are we from a Covid-19 vaccine?
  • Who should benefit first from the new vaccine?
  • The impact of the new coronavirus on the poor and homeless people.
  • Analyze the infection rate among medics in the United States.
  • Most effective ways to prevent the spread of the virus.
  • Should we test the vaccines in Africa (like a doctor recently suggested)?

Do you need some more medical ethics topics for essay? Or perhaps you are interested in getting 10 more medical ethics debate topics so you can choose the best one. We are here to help. Check out more heath essay topics or simply get in touch with us and get another list of topics in no time. Our academic writers are some of the best on the Internet, so we can guarantee that every medical ethics topic on the list will be awesome. Give us a try!

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Medical Ethics Issues: Position Papers & Resources

In addition to the ACP Ethics Manual, ACP publishes ethics position papers on a broad range of health care ethics issues including clinical ethics, professionalism, the delivery of health care, teaching, medical research, human rights and other topics. ACP ethics policy is approved by the Board of Regents and serves as the basis for the development of ACP ethics education and practice resources and legislative, regulatory and policy implementation activities.

Current ACP Ethics Policies and Resources

New determination of death and organ transplantation, position papers.

  • Standards and Ethics Issues in the Determination of Death: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians (September 4, 2023)
  • Ethics, Determination of Death, and Organ Transplantation in Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) with Controlled Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death (cDCD): American College of Physicians Statement of Concern (April 17, 2021)

Comments and Letters

  • ACP letter to the Uniform Law Commission Committee about updating the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) (June 7, 2023)
  • Does Normothermic Regional Perfusion Violate the Ethical Principles Underlying Organ Procurement? Yes. (Chest. 2022;162(2):288-90)
  • Rebuttal From Dr. DeCamp et al. (Chest. 2022;162(2):292-3)

NEW Disability

  • ACP Letter Regarding Discrimination on Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs Proposed Rule 2023 (November 13, 2023)

NEW Electronic and Online Professionalism

Ethics manual, electronic patient-physician communication, electronic health records, telemedicine, and online professionalism.

  • Initiating and Discontinuing the Patient–Physician Relationship
  • The Medical Record
  • Boundaries and Privacy

Case Studies

  • Lab Results Reporting, Ethics, and the 21st Century Cures Act Rule on Information Blocking CME/MOC

Ethics, Electronic Health Record Integrity and the Patient-Physician Relationship CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME and MOC by Medscape. 2021)

Ethics, Professionalism, and the Physician Social Media Influencer CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME and MOC by Medscape. 2020)

”Doctor, Can’t You Just Phone a Prescription In?” and Other Ethical Challenges of Telemedicine Encounters CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. MOC and CME by Medscape. 2019)

Maintaining Medical Professionalism Online: Posting of Patient Information CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Addressing a Colleague's Sexually Explicit Facebook Post CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2017)

Copied and Pasted and Misdiagnosed (or Cloned Notes and Blind Alleys) CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2015)

American College of Physicians Ethical Guidance for Electronic Patient-Physician Communication: Aligning Expectations (J Gen Intern Med. published online 22 June 2020)

Ethical Implications of the Electronic Health Record: In the Service of the Patient (J Gen Intern Med. 2017;32:935-9)

Policy Recommendations to Guide the Use of Telemedicine in Primary Care Settings (Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:787-9)

Online Medical Professionalism: Patient and Public Relationships (Ann Intern Med. 2013;158:620-7)

NEW End-of-Life Care

  • Care of Patients Near the End of Life
  • Show Codes, Slow Codes, Full Codes, or No Codes: What Is a Doctor to Do? CME/MOC (ACP Ethic Case Studies Series, MOC and CME by Medsape. 2023)

2011 Letter and 2009 letter to Congressman Blumenauer regarding ACP’s support for legislation to pay for voluntary end-of-life care consultations (see H.R. 1898, the Life Sustaining Treatment Preferences Act of 2009).

  • Ethics, Determination of Death, and Organ Transplantation in Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) with Controlled Donation after Circulatory Determination of Death (cDCD): American College of Physicians Statement of Concern

End-of-Life (PEACE) Brochures (ACP. 2014) The PEACE brochures were developed by the Patient Education Work Group, which was convened in conjunction with the Consensus Panel project. Order copies of printed brochures

  • Improving Your End-of-Life Care Practice
  • Living with a Serious Illness: Talking with Your Doctor When the Future is Uncertain
  • When You Have Pain at the End of Life
  • Making Medical Decisions for a Loved One at the End of Life

ACP-ASIM End-of-Life Care Consensus Panel Papers (1999-2001) ACP convened this Greenwall Foundation supported consensus panel to develop ethical, policy, and clinical recommendations for physicians and other clinicians on end-of-life decisions.

Physician's Guide to End-of-Life Care Edited by Lois Snyder, JD, and Timothy Quill, MD, FACP (ACP Books. 2001)

Advance Directive Forms for Your State Contact Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

National Healthcare Decisions Day, April 16 Details and resources on NHDD and the importance of advance care planning.

  • Expert Witnesses

To Be or Not to Be: Should I Serve as an Expert Witness? CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2014)

Guidelines for the Physician Expert Witness (Ann Intern Med. 1990;113:789)

NEW Family Caregivers

Ethical Guidance on Family Caregiving, Support, and Visitation in Hospitals and Residential Health Care Facilities, Including During Public Health Emergencies (J Gen Intern Med. 2023 Mar 20:1–8)

Family Caregivers, Patients and Physicians: Ethical Guidance to Optimize Relationships (J Gen Intern Med. 2010;25:255-60)

Family Caregivers, Patients and Physicians: Ethical Guidance to Optimize Relationships (ACP. 2009) (This publication is a longer version of the position paper above.)

Information Resources for Physicians Supporting Family Caregivers (ACP. 2010) This appendix of resources was developed in conjunction with the ACP position paper to help physicians manage relationships with patients and caregivers.

When the Family Caregiver Is a Physician: Negotiating the Ethical Boundaries CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME and MOC by Medscape. 2020)

Genetic Testing and Precision Medicine

  • Precision Medicine, Genetic Testing, Privacy, and Confidentiality

ACP Comments on privacy protection and human genome sequencing (May 24, 2012) ACP provided comments to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues regarding the ethical implications of evolving notions of privacy and access in relation to the integration of large-scale human genome sequencing into research and clinical care.

Position Papers and Statements

Ethical Considerations in Precision Medicine and Genetic Testing in Internal Medicine Practice Ann Intern Med.2022;175:1322-1323

Genetic Testing and Reuniting Families (July 10, 2018)

Global Health Clinical Experiences

  • Cultural Humility and Volunteerism

Ethical Obligations Regarding Short-Term Global Health Clinical Experiences (Ann Intern Med. 2018;168:651-7)

NEW Health and Human Rights

"Health and human rights are interrelated. When human rights are promoted, health is promoted ... Physicians have important roles in promoting health and human rights and addressing social inequities." (Ethics Manual, seventh edition).

  • Obligations of the Physician to Society

Health as a Human Right (Ann Intern Med. doi:10.7326/M23-1900)

ACP's Human Rights Page : ACP policy statements and letters of support, as well as documents related to College advocacy for the humane treatment of prisoners and detainees.

NEW Health Information Privacy, Protection, and Use

  • Confidentiality
  • Research Sections within the Research chapter include “Use of Human Biological Materials in Research” and “Internet and Social Media Research”.

Maintaining Medical Professionalism Online: Posting of Patient Information (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Confidentiality and Privacy: Beyond HIPAA to Honey, Can We Talk? (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Ethical Guidance for Physicians and Health Care Institutions on Grateful Patient Fundraising: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians (Ann Intern Med.doi:10.7326/M23-1691)

Health Information Privacy, Protection, and Use in the Expanding Digital Health Ecosystem: A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians (Ann Intern Med.2021;174:994-998)

NEW Pandemics and Ethics -->

Health care system catastrophes.

  • The Patient-Physician Relationship and Health Care System Catastrophes
  • Medical Risk to Physician and Patient

When Resources Are Limited During a Public Health Catastrophe: Nondiscrimination and Ethical Allocation Guidance CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. MOC and CME by Medscape. 2023)

Pandemic Treatment Resource Allocation Ethics and Nondiscrimination (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME and MOC by Medscape. 2020)

Stewardship of Health Care Resources: Allocating Mechanical Ventilators During Pandemic Influenza (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. 2017)

ACP supports ACIP recommendation for additional mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose and WHO call for equitable global vaccine distribution (August 17, 2021)

ACP Statement on Global COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution and Allocation: On Being Ethical and Practical (June 8, 2021)

ACP's Policy Statement on the Ethical Allocation of Vaccines During Pandemics Including COVID-19 (November 23, 2020)

A Wake-up Call for Healthcare Emerging Ethical Lessons from Covid-19 (Modern Healthcare, June 16, 2020)

Non-Discrimination in the Stewardship of Healthcare Resources in Health System Catastrophes, including COVID-19 Pandemic (March 26, 2020)

Internists Say Harassment Based on Race or Ethnic Origin is Never Okay (March 31, 2020)

Universal Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders, Social Worth, and Life-Years: Opposing Discriminatory Approaches to the Allocation of Resources During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Health System Catastrophes (Ann Intern Med.2020;173:230-232)

NEW Patient–Physician Relationship

Patient-physician relationship.

  • The Physician and the Patient
  • Initiating and Discontinuing the Patient-Physician Relationship
  • Third-Party Evaluations
  • Providing Medical Care to One’s Self; Persons With Whom the Physician has a Preexisting Close Nonprofessional Relationship or a Reporting Relationship; and VIPs
  • Sexual Contact between Physician and Patient
  • Gifts from Patients

Confidentiality and privacy, disclosure of medical errors, and informed and surrogate decision making

  • Informed Decision Making and Consent
  • Making Decisions Near the End of Life

The Doctor Will See You Shortly. The Ethical Significance of Time for the Patient–Physician Relationship (J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20:1057-62)

Ethics and Time, Time Perception, and the Patient–Physician Relationship (ACP. March 2003) (This publication is a longer version of the position paper above.)

  • Patient Prejudice? The Patient Said What?... and What Comes Next CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2022)

Confidentiality and Privacy: Beyond HIPAA to Honey, Can We Talk? CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Preventive Health Screening, Ethics, and the Cognitively Impaired Patient CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2015)

The Difficult Patient: Should You End the Relationship? What Now? An Ethics Case Study CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2014)

Must You Disclose Mistakes Made by Other Physicians? CME (ACP Observer. November 2003)

Physicians and Society

  • Relation of the Physician to Government
  • Strikes and Other Joint Actions by Physicians

Physician Work Stoppages and Political Demonstrations—Economic Self-Interest or Patient Advocacy? Where Is the Line? CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2010)

  • Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia
  • Toolkit on Issues in Delivering Patient-Centered End-of-Life Care and Responding to a Request for Physician-Assisted Suicide (Member login)

Ethics and the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide (Ann Intern Med. 2017;167:576-8)

Physician–Industry Relations

  • Conflicts of Interest
  • Sponsored Research

Physician Open Payments (Sunshine Rule) This ACP webpage provides guidance and related tools for physicians on the Physician Payment Sunshine Rule (also referred to as the National Physician Payment Transparency Program, or Open Payments). The Open Payments system, implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2015, provides a mechanism for the public reporting of physician and teaching hospital financial relationships with industry.

Physician–Industry Relations. Part 1: Individual Physicians (Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:396-402)

Physician–Industry Relations. Part 2: Organizational Issues (Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:403-6)

NEW Practice Models, the Business of Medicine and the Changing Practice Environment

  • The Changing Practice Environment
  • Financial Arrangements

Ethics, Professionalism, Physician Employment and Health Care Business Practices CME/MOC

Banning Harmful Health Behaviors as a Condition of Employment: Where There's Smoke There's Fired? CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Wellness Programs and Patient Goals of Care CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2017)

Obligations and Opportunities: The Role of Clinical Societies in the Ethics of Managed Care (J Am Geriatr Soc. 1998;46:378-80)

Ethical and Professionalism Implications of Physician Employment and Health Care Business Practices CME (Ann Intern Med. published online 15 March 2021)

Assessing the Patient Care Implications of “Concierge” and Other Direct Patient Contracting Practices (Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:949-52)

The Patient-Centered Medical Home: An Ethical Analysis of Principles and Practice (J Gen Intern Med. 2013;28:141-6)

Ethical Considerations for the Use of Patient Incentives to Promote Personal Responsibility for Health: West Virginia Medicaid and Beyond (ACP. 2010)

Pay-for-Performance Principles That Promote Patient-Centered Care: An Ethics Manifesto (Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:792-4)

Pay-for-Performance Principles that Ensure the Promotion of Patient Centered Care—An Ethics Manifesto (ACP. 2007) (This publication is a longer version of the position paper above.)

Medical Professionalism in the Changing Health Care Environment: Revitalizing Internal Medicine by Focusing on the Patient–Physician Relationship (ACP. 2005)

Ethics in Practice: Managed Care and the Changing Health Care Environment (Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:131-6)

Selling Products Out of the Office (Ann Intern Med. 1999;131:863-4)

Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription Drug Abuse (Ann Intern Med. 2014;160:198-200)

NEW Professionalism

American College of Physicians Pledge (ACP. 1982 [updated; original 1924]) The ACP Pledge is taken by new Fellows at Convocation at each Internal Medicine annual meeting. The Pledge affirms the physician’s membership in an ethical and moral community dedicated to healing, comfort, and altruism.

Physician Charter on Professionalism

Medical Professionalism in the New Millennium: A Physician Charter (Ann Intern Med. 2002;136:243-6)

  • Professionalism

Ethical and Professionalism Implications of Physician Employment and Health Care Business Practices (Ann Intern Med. published online 15 March 2021)

  • ACP Professional Accountability Principles (ACP. March 2018)

Professional Attire and the Patient-Physician Relationship CME/MOC (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME and MOC by Medscape. 2020)

Addressing a Colleague's Unprofessional Behavior During Sign-Out CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Dealing with the "Disruptive" Physician Colleague CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2009)

Professional Well-being and Ethics

  • The Impaired Physician

Physician Suicide Prevention: The Ethics and Role of the Physician Colleague and the Healing Community CME/MOC

When an Aging Colleague Seems Impaired CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2017)

Physician Suicide Prevention and the Ethics and Role of a Healing Community: An American College of Physicians Policy Paper (J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Sep;36(9):2829-2835)

Physician Impairment and Rehabilitation: Reintegration Into Medical Practice While Ensuring Patient Safety (Ann Intern Med. 2019;170(12):871-879.)

ACP’s Physician Well-being and Professional Satisfaction initiative aims to foster a culture of wellness, reduce administrative burdens on physicians, improve practice efficiency and enhance individual physician well-being. The project website includes tools and programs for individual members, their practices, and ACP Chapters.

Research Ethics and Human Subjects

Research Sections within the chapter include “Protection of Human Subjects,” “Use of Human Biological Materials in Research,” “Placebo Controls,” “Innovative Medical Therapies,” “Scientific Publication,” “Sponsored Research” and “Public Announcement of Research Discoveries.”

Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Project

Under a grant from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the DHHS Office of Research Integrity, ACP Ethics staff has implemented member education and support programs on the responsible conduct of office-based research. Workshops have been presented at ACP's annual meeting as well as at several ACP chapter meetings.

Research in the Physician's Office: Navigating the Ethical Minefield (Hastings Cent Rep. 2008)

Volunteering for a Research Study? Talk with Your Doctor About What You Should Know This patient education brochure provides information and guidance to patients who are considering volunteering for a research study. The brochures are designed to facilitate conversations between doctors and their patients. They are intended for distribution in doctors’ offices and come in packages of 50. Access the brochure order form .

Author! Author! Who Should Be Named in a Published Study? An Ethics Case Study CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2014)

When are Industry-Sponsored Trials a Good Match for Community Doctors? CME (ACP-ASIM Observer. 2001)

Research Ethics Training Resources

  • Revised Common Rule Educational Materials , Department of Health and Human Services
  • The Research Clinic , Office of Research Integrity, Department of Health and Human Services
  • Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) , Research Ethics and Compliance Training, CITI Program
  • Responsible Conduct of Research Training , Office of Intramural Research, National Institutes of Health
  • HIPAA Training and Resources , Department of Health and Human Services
  • Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science , Center for Engineering Ethics and Society, National Academy of Engineering
  • World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
  • Council of Science Editors (CSE)
  • European Association of Science Editors (EASE)

ACP supports National Academies’ call for withdrawal of Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for ‘Common Rule’ and for appointing a new commission (Dec. 31, 2015) ACP issued a statement in support of the National Academies' call for withdrawal of the Common Rule NPRM and for appointing a new research ethics commission.

ACP Comments on Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) (Dec. 31, 2015) ACP submitted comments to the Office for Human Research Protections of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, "Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects," also known as the Common Rule. ACP also submitted an earlier round of comments on the proposed rule making on Oct. 25, 2011.

Stewardship of Health Care Resources

"Physicians have a responsibility to practice effective and efficient health care and to use health care resources responsibly in practicing high-value care. Parsimonious care that utilizes the most efficient means to effectively diagnose a condition and treat a patient puts the patient first but also respects the need to use resources wisely and to help ensure that resources are equitably available" (Ethics Manual, seventh edition).

Conflicting duties? The physician's primary duty, first and foremost, is to the individual patient. She or he must advocate for the patient—in a health care system that grows more and more complex by the year—based on the best interests of the patient. But the physician also should use health care resources responsibly and efficiently. Are these duties in conflict? The Ethics Manual and ethics case studies explore these issues and provide help in sorting them out.

Is it rationing? Parsimonious care is not rationing. The goal of medical parsimony is to provide the care necessary for the patient's good on the basis primarily of evidence-based medicine. Although this may have the welcome side effect of preserving resources, reducing resource use is not the intent. It is this difference in intent and action that helps provide a foundation for the ethical distinction between parsimonious medicine and rationing.

  • Resource Allocation

ACP’s High Value Care Project aims to improve health, avoid harms, and eliminate wasteful practices. The project website offers learning resources for clinicians and medical educators, clinical guidelines, best practice advice, case studies and patient resources on a wide variety of related topics.

Patient Requests for Specific Care: 'Surely You Can Explain to My Insurer That I Need Boniva?' CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2018)

Who Should Get What? Mammography and the Stewardship of Health Care Resources CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2012)

The following ethics case studies were developed through an award from the ABIM Foundation's Putting the Charter into Practice project. Watch a video report of the ACP's work on this project presented by Dr. David Fleming, former President of the College.

Stewardship of Health Care Resources: Allocating Mechanical Ventilators During Pandemic Influenza CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2017)

Stewardship of Health Care Resources: Responding to a Patient's Request for Antibiotics (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2014)

Teaching, Training and the Hidden Curriculum

  • Attending Physicians and Physicians-in-Training

Resident Duty Hours: To Hand Over or Gloss Over? CME (ACP Ethics Case Studies Series. CME by Medscape. 2017)

Hidden Curricula, Ethics, and Professionalism: Optimizing Clinical Learning Environments in Becoming and Being a Physician (Ann Intern Med. 2018;168:506-8)

CME/MOC activities based on this ACP position paper are available:

Annals offers two CME/MOC activities:

Ethics, Professionalism, and the Hidden Curriculum (Click on “CME/MOC” on the left sidebar.)

Annals On Call – Hidden Curriculum

In this Curbsiders Podcast , Sanjay Desai, MD, coauthor of ACP’s position paper and Internal Medicine program director at Johns Hopkins, reviews several cases that illustrate how institutional norms can shape the practice of medicine. Detailed summaries of the cases discussed are available here .

Archived Ethics Position Papers

Health Information Technology & Privacy (July 2011)

Cognitively Impaired Subjects (November 1989)

  • Ethics Position Papers by Publication Date

Medical Ethics Essay Examples and Topics

Traditional medicine vs. modern medicine, euthanasia: advantages and disadvantages, legal-ethical issues affecting patient rights for the elderly.

  • Words: 1098

Ethical Dilemma as Witnessed in the Cassavetes’ Film “My Sister’s Keeper”

  • Words: 1744

Advantages and Disadvantages of Organ Transplantation

  • Words: 1943

Arguments in Favor of Euthanasia

  • Words: 2228

Nursing Code of Ethics

Christian values and decision making in health care.

  • Words: 1114

Kant’s Ethical Theory of Deontology in Nursing

Ethical dilemma of child abuse.

  • Words: 1161

Arguments for the Sale of Organs

  • Words: 1661

Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing Informatics

Ethical and legal implications in healthcare: case study.

  • Words: 1490

Fifteen Ethical Principles of the Universal Declaration on Bioethics

Ethical issues at the radiology department.

  • Words: 1433

Organ Selling: Right or Wrong?

  • Words: 1980

The Debate on Animal Testing

  • Words: 2732

Utilitarianism in Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Words: 1218

Ethical Dilemmas in Counselling and Treatment Methods

  • Words: 1006

The Fetal Abnormality Case Study on Moral Status

Should assisted suicide be legalized.

  • Words: 1648

Reflection of Ethical Self-Assessment

Ethical issues in terri schiavo case, abortion: why it should be banned.

  • Words: 1146

Christian Spirituality: Imago Dei in Healthcare

Four principles of medical ethics, utilitarianism: ethical theory in healthcare, consequentialism: euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, faith vs. ethics in skloot’s “the immortal life of henrietta lacks”.

  • Words: 1671

Moral Integrity in the Modern Society

Medical dilemma, medical ethics in radiography, arguments against the abortion.

  • Words: 1126

“The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams

Nursing ethical principles application, ethical dilemma in healthcare administration.

  • Words: 1100

Ethical Dilemma: The Missing Needle Protector

  • Words: 1202

Ethics and Abortion

An argument against euthanasia.

  • Words: 2523

Breaking Patient’s Confidentiality

Nursing ethics regarding abortion, ethical issues, distractions, and alarm fatigue, discussion: the missing needle protector.

  • Words: 1095

Bioethics. When Abortion Is Morally Permissible

Ethics in “the immortal life of henrietta lacks”, the ethical issues associated with organ transplantation, nursing ethics and the diversion of narcotics drugs, when patients refuse treatments. medical dilemma..

  • Words: 1885

Medical Decision Making for Minors

  • Words: 1608

Nonmaleficence as Ethical Principle in Healthcare

The american college of healthcare executives code of ethics.

  • Words: 1236

Ethics in Healthcare: The United Arab Emirates

  • Words: 5683

Pros and Cons of Paying for Organ Donation: Arguments for Prohibition

Teleology and deontology in healthcare, discrimination of black women during pregnancy, postmodern view and spirituality in healthcare.

  • Words: 1701

Adolescent Patient’s Right to Refuse Chemotherapy

Tuskegee syphilis experiment and ethical principles, patient’s secret revelation: ethical dilemma.

  • Words: 1229

Patient Safety and Medical Errors Reduction

  • Words: 2897

Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing Setting

Affordable care act in ethical theories.

  • Words: 1336

Normative Methods in Healthcare Ethics

  • Words: 2773

Moral Courage in a Health Administrator

Unprofessional behaviors among doctors, the ethical dilemma in nursing, dementia: ethical dilemmas.

  • Words: 2455

Patients’ Spiritual Needs and Ethical Principles

  • Words: 1147

The Issue of Assisted Suicide

Ethical issues of death and dying.

  • Words: 2229

Ethical Issues on HIV/AIDS

  • Words: 2836

Negligence in Physical Therapy

  • Words: 1727

Medical Ethics: “Sicko” Documentary by Michael Moore

Mercy killing: an ethical argument with regards to the future.

  • Words: 1431

Medical Ethics – The Four Pillars Explained

Issue of racism in healthcare.

  • Words: 1455

Euthanasia: Right to Live or Right to Die

Advantages and disadvantages of euthanasia in modern society.

  • Words: 1453

Fostering Dignity and Respect in Caring

  • Words: 3088

Counseling Intervention Ethical Concerns

Islamic philosophy related to patient care.

  • Words: 1646

Abortion: An Ethical Dilemma and Legal Position

  • Words: 1443

Abortion and the Theory of Act Utilitarianism

Genetic engineering is ethically unacceptable.

  • Words: 3070

Schizophrenia Research: Ethical Principles and Steps

Ethical implications related to medication error, truth-telling/confidentiality in medical practice.

  • Words: 1503

Relationship Between Doctors and Pharmaceutical Industries

The importance of consent in research, the morality of euthanasia.

  • Words: 1361

Why Active Euthanasia is Morally Wrong

  • Words: 1660

Cultural Competence and the Patient-Clinician Relationship

Cultural and racial inequality in health care.

  • Words: 2661

Ethics and Morality in Health Profession

End of life decisions – do-not-resuscitate.

  • Words: 1430

Bioethics: Artificial Nutrition and Hydration

  • Words: 2564

Abortion-Related Ethical Considerations

  • Words: 1230

Ethics and Evidence-Based Research

  • Words: 1372

The Ethical Use of Technology in Healthcare

Bioethics as an essential part of healthcare, the worth of biomedical ethics in nursing practice, the ethics of abortion in nursing, the case study of patient with late-stage alzheimer’s disease.

  • Words: 1454

The Value of the Human Person in Terms of Bioethical Issues

The main principles of bioethics, ethical and legal problems in health care organizations.

  • Words: 1475

Intercultural Counseling: Cultural Competence in Therapy with African Americans

Abortion as an ethical issue in medicine, medical ethics: withholding information from patients, research and development of a code of ethics for a medical clinic.

  • Words: 2561

Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe

Teen abortion: legal and ethical implications.

  • Words: 1405

Euthanasia as a Polarizing Issue

Severely impaired newborns, futility and infanticide, abortion ban: ethical controversies and history of laws, ethical-legal principles and dilemmas related to healthcare.

  • Words: 1203

Ethical Perspectives: Medical Ethics

Ethics in healthcare: biggest healthcare data breaches, complicated ethical cases: knowledge for nurses, rachel’s stance on euthanasia: passive and active killing.

Professional essay writing service

Explore the Best Medical and Health Research Topics Ideas

Updated Aug 2021 In such a complex and broad field as medicine, writing an original and compelling research paper is a daunting task. From investigating public care concerns to cancer treatment studies, each student decides where his interests lie. Our goal is to help students find new angles to study and focus on relevant topics. With our resources, you can write an engaging and rigorous paper.

How to Choose Medical Research Paper Topics

Choosing good research paper topics is often more challenging than the writing process itself. You need to select a captivating subject matter that will grab the reader’s attention, showcase your knowledge of a specific field, help you progress in your studies, and perhaps even inspire future research.

Research Paper Topics

To accomplish that, you need to start with brainstorming, followed by thorough research. Here are some great tips to follow:

  • Pick an interesting topic - The key is to pick something that you find interesting, and yet make sure it’s not too general or too narrow. It should allow you to delve deep into the subject matter and show that you’re a professional who is ready to take on a challenge when it comes to your chosen field of medicine.
  • Narrow down your focus - Once you have a list of potential topics, sift through recent medical research papers to get up-to-date with the latest trends, developments, and issues in medicine and healthcare. Check out textbooks, news articles, and other relevant sources for more information related to your potential topics. If a particular condition or disease interests you (perhaps something that drew you to a career in medicine), there’s your cue for narrowing down your topic.
  • Pinpoint the “why,” “how,” and “what” - Whether you are looking into nutrition research paper topics , controversial medical topics, nursing research topics , or anything in-between, ask yourself why each of them is important. How could they contribute to the available medical studies, if any? What new information could they bring to improve the future of medicine? Asking these questions will help you pick the right medical research paper topic that suits you and helps you move forward and reach your aspirations.

To help you on that quest, we’ve compiled a list of topics that you could use or that might inspire you to come up with something unique. Let’s dive in.

New Medical Research Paper Topics

Are you interested in the newest and most interesting developments in medicine? We put hours of effort into identifying the current trends in health research so we could provide you with these examples of topics. Whether you hire a research paper writing service for students  or write a paper by yourself, you need an appealing topic to focus on.

  • Epidemics versus pandemics
  • Child health care
  • Medical humanitarian missions in the developing world
  • Homoeopathic medicines – the placebo effect
  • Virus infections – causes and treatment
  • Is medical research on animals ethical
  • Vaccination – dangers versus benefits
  • Artificial tissues and organs
  • Rare genetic diseases
  • Brain injuries

Medical Research Topics for College Students

medical ethics topics for research paper

You don’t know where to start with your medical research paper? There are so many things you could write about that the greatest challenge is to narrow them down. This is why we decided to help.

  • Antibiotics treatments
  • Chronic diseases
  • Palliative treatment
  • Battling Alzheimer’s disease
  • How modern lifestyle affects public health
  • Professional diseases
  • Sleep disorders
  • Changes in physical and mental health due to aging
  • Eating disorders
  • Terminal diseases

Controversial Medical Topics for Research Paper

In healthcare, new discoveries can change people’s lives in the blink of an eye. This is also the reason why there are so many controversial topics in medicine, which involve anything from religion to ethics or social responsibility. Read on to discover our top controversial research topics.

  • Implementing food standards
  • Gluten allergy
  • Assisted suicide for terminal patients
  • Testing vaccines on animals – ethical concerns
  • Moral responsibilities regarding cloning
  • Marijuana legalization for medical purposes
  • Abortion – medical approaches
  • Vegan diets – benefits and dangers
  • Increased life expectancy: a burden on the healthcare system?
  • Circumcision effects

Health Research Topics

Students conducting health research struggle with finding good ideas related to their medical interests. If you want to write interesting college papers, you can select a good topic for our list.

  • How environmental changes affect human health
  • Deafness: communication disorders
  • Household air pollution
  • Diabetes – a public danger
  • Coronaviruses
  • Oral health assessment
  • Tobacco and alcohol control
  • Diseases caused by lack of physical exercise
  • How urban pollution affects respiratory diseases
  • Healthy diets

Medicine Research Topics

Regardless of the requirements in your research assignment, you can write about something that is both engaging and useful in your future career. Choose a topic from below.

  • Causes for the increasing cancer cases
  • Insulin resistance
  • How terrorism affects mental health
  • AIDS/HIV - latest developments
  • Treating pregnant women versus non-pregnant women
  • Latest innovations in medical instruments
  • Genetic engineering
  • Successful treatment of mental diseases
  • Is autism a disease
  • Natural coma versus artificial coma

Healthcare Research Topics

Healthcare research includes political and social aspects, besides medical. For college students who want to explore how medicine is affected by society’s values or principles, we provide examples of topics for papers. Select yours from the list below.

  • Government investment in healthcare services in the EU versus the USA
  • Inequalities in healthcare assistance and services
  • Electronic health records systems – pros and cons
  • Can asylums treat mental issues
  • Health care for prison inmates
  • Equipment for improving treatment of AIDS
  • Correlation between economic development and health care services across countries
  • Impact of smoking on organs
  • Heart attacks – causes and effects
  • Breast cancer – recent developments

Public Health Research Topics

For current examples of public health topics, browse our list. We provide only original, researchable examples for which you can easily find supporting data and evidence.

  • Public versus private hospitals
  • Health care professionals - management principles
  • Surgery failures – who is responsible
  • What legal responsibilities has the hospital administration
  • Patient service quality in public versus private hospitals
  • What benefits national health care systems have
  • Estimated costs of cancer treatments
  • Public health in developing countries
  • Banning tobacco ads – importance for public health
  • Government solutions to the anti-vaccine’s movement

Mental Health Research Paper Topics

Mental health is one of the most complex areas of medicine, where things are never as clear as with other medical issues. This increases the research potential of the field with plenty of topics left for debate.

  • Causes of anxiety disorders
  • Bulimia versus anorexia
  • Childhood trauma
  • Mental health public policies
  • Postpartum Depression
  • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder
  • Schizophrenia

Anatomy Research Topics

Anatomy covers everything about the human body and how it works. If you find that intriguing and want to pay for medical research paper , start by selecting a topic.

  • Chemotherapy: how it affects the body
  • Thyroid glands – functions in the body
  • Human endocrine system
  • Heart diseases
  • How does the human muscular system develop
  • Lymphatic system – importance
  • Investigating genetic diseases
  • Digestive system

Biomedical Research Topics

Biology and medicine often work together. For the newest changes in the biomedical field, check our topics.

  • Alzheimer’s disease – paths for treatment
  • Vaccines and drug development in the treatment of Ebola
  • Antibiotic resistance
  • Biological effects caused by aging
  • Air pollution effects on health
  • Infectious disease past versus present
  • Regenerative medicine
  • Biomedical diagnostics
  • Biomedical technology

Bioethics Research Topics

A controversial area of medicine, bioethics is where you get the chance to add personal input to a research topic and come up with new insights. You could consider these subjects.

  • Organ donation
  • Alternative or complementary medicine
  • Assisted suicide or the right to die
  • Artificial insemination or surrogacy
  • Chemical and biological warfare
  • Contraception
  • Environmental bioethics
  • In Vitro fertilization

Cancer Research Topics

Are you writing a paper related to cancer causes, diagnosis, treatment or effects? Look below for a hot topic that it’s easy to research and important for medical advance.

  • Ability of immune system cells to fight cancer
  • Computational oncology
  • Metastasis affected by drug resistance
  • Stem cells – applications for cancer treatment
  • Tumor microenvironment
  • Obesity and age in cancer occurrence
  • Early cancer detection - benefits
  • Artificial intelligence predicting cancer
  • Hematologic malignancies
  • Pathogen-related cancers

Clinical Research Topics

Learn more about clinical medicine by conducting more in-depth research. We prepared for you a list of relevant issues to touch upon.

  • Ethical concerns regarding research on human subjects
  • Subject recruitment
  • Budget preparation
  • Human subject protection
  • Clinical trials – financial support
  • Clinical practices for health professionals
  • Using vulnerable populations in clinical research
  • Quality assurance in clinical research
  • Academic clinical trials versus clinical trials units
  • Data collection and management

Critical Care Research Topics

Critical care is a key area in medical studies. Explore these topics in your research paper to gain more valuable knowledge in this field. You can also get in contact with nursing research paper writers .

  • Obesity and asthma – clinical manifestations
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • Rhythm analysis for cardiac arrest
  • Traumatic brain injury – fluid resuscitation
  • Hydrocortisone for multiple trauma patients
  • Care and nutrition for critically ill adults
  • Diagnosis of hypersensitivity pneumonitis
  • Coma and sedation scales
  • Artificial airways suctioning
  • Arterial puncture and arterial line

Pediatric Research Topics

Any topic that refers to health care for children, pregnant women, mothers, and adolescents goes under pediatric care.

  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Congenital heart disease in newborns
  • Adolescent medicine
  • Neonatal medicine
  • Rare diseases in children and teenagers
  • Obesity and weight fluctuations
  • Behavioral sleep problems in children
  • Children with anemia

Dental Research Topics Ideas

Choose a topic on oral health or dental care from this list of the most interesting topics in the field.

  • How smoking affects oral health
  • Children’s risk for dental caries
  • Dental anxiety
  • Types of dental materials – new advances
  • Bad breath bacteria
  • How diabetes affects oral health
  • Oral cancer
  • Dental pain – types, causes
  • Dental implants
  • Oral health-related quality of life

Dermatology Research Topics

Find the best research topic for your dermatology paper among our examples.

  • Atopic dermatitis
  • Contact dermatitis
  • Epidemiology behind uncommon skin disorders
  • Cutaneous aging
  • Risk factors of melanoma skin cancer
  • Acne versus rosacea
  • Genetic testing for skin conditions
  • Effects of cosmetic agents on skin health
  • Improving skin barrier with pharmaceutical agents
  • Skin manifestations of autoimmune disorders

Primary Care Research Topics

Write a primary care paper that can demonstrate your research skills and interest in powerful scientific findings.

  • Primary care for vulnerable/uninsured populations
  • Interpersonal continuity in care treatment
  • How primary care contributes to health systems
  • Primary care delivery models
  • Developments in family medicine
  • Occupational/environmental health
  • Pharmacotherapy approaches
  • Formal allergy testing
  • Oral contraception side effects
  • Dietary or behavioral interventions for obesity management

Pharmaceutical Research Topics

Pharma students who need paper topics can use one from our list. We include all things related to pharmacy life.

  • Drugs that can treat cancer
  • Drug excretion
  • Elimination rate constant
  • Inflammatory stress drug treatment
  • Aspirin poising
  • Ibuprofen – dangers versus benefits
  • Toxicodynamics
  • Opioid use disorder
  • Pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia
  • Ketamine in depression treatment

Medical Anthropology Research Topics

Medical anthropology unites different areas of human knowledge. Find powerful ideas for a paper below.

  • Cultural contexts regarding reproductive health
  • Women sexuality
  • Anthropological aspects of health care
  • Contributions of social sciences to public health
  • Euthanasia and medical ethics across cultures
  • Health-related behavior in adults across cultures
  • Transcultural nursing
  • Forensic psychiatry
  • Symptoms of Celiac Disease – a disease with no symptoms
  • Nursing ethics

Paramedic Research Paper Topics

Topics for paramedic research must be based on evidence, data, statistics, or practical experience. Just like ours.

  • Trends and statistics in EMS
  • Disaster medicine
  • Mass casualties
  • Pandemics and epidemics
  • Infection control
  • Basic versus advanced life support
  • Scene safety in EMS
  • Shock management
  • Motor vehicle accidents

Surgery Research Topics

Discover all the intricacies of surgeries that save lives by writing about our topics.

  • Medical malpractice and legal issues
  • Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
  • Pain management
  • Perioperative nursing
  • Wound management
  • Colorectal cancer surgery
  • Breast cancer surgery
  • Minimally invasive surgeries
  • Vascular disease

Radiology Research Paper Topics

Find a radiology topic related to your academic interests to write a successful paper.

  • Using MRI to diagnose hepatic focal lesions
  • Multidetector computer tomography
  • Ultrasound elastography in breast cancer
  • Assessing traumatic spinal cord injuries with MRI diffusion tensor imaging
  • Sonographic imaging to detect male infertility
  • Role of tomography in diagnosing cancer
  • Brain tumor surgery with magnetic resonance imaging
  • Bacterial meningitis imaging

Anatomy and Physiology Research Paper Topics

Any ideas for a medical research paper? We have included the most important topics for an anatomy and physiology paper.

  • What role has the endocrine system
  • Staphylococcus aureus
  • Environmental factors that affect development of human muscular system
  • What role has the lymphatic system
  • An investigation of genetic diseases
  • Explaining the aging process
  • The digestive tract
  • Effects of stress on cells and muscles
  • Evolution of the human nervous system
  • What role has the cardiovascular system

Healthcare Management Research Paper Topics

There are numerous topics you could write about when it comes to healthcare management. There’s a wide range of options to pick, from infrastructure, staff, and financial management to HR and patient management. Here are some of the top healthcare management research paper options.

  • Medical talent acquisition and retention
  • Best methods for enhancing preventative care measures
  • The role of telemedicine in reinventing healthcare management
  • Patient care and the ability to pay for healthcare
  • Mid-level healthcare providers in the emergency department
  • The opioid crisis: policies and programs
  • Urgent care and walk-in clinics
  • Hospital emergency management plan during an epidemic
  • Hospital records management and patient privacy
  • Financial crises: challenges and opportunities

Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics

Medical ethics is a field that opens the door to numerous compelling topics for research papers. Here are some of the most appealing ones you could tackle.

  • Clinical research on humans
  • Vaccines and immunization
  • Religious beliefs in healthcare
  • Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide
  • Ethical issues across cultures
  • Amniocentesis or prenatal birth defect testing
  • Medical malpractice and going back to work
  • Racial and ethnic preferences and perceptions in organ donations
  • Racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare
  • Ethical concerns of AI in healthcare

If you need further assistance with your medical research paper, StudyClerk is here for you. Our expert writers can provide you with top-notch research and help you write an impressive paper. Contact us anytime, pick your writer, tell them more about your topic, and get a unique, plagiarism-free research paper with impeccable grammar and formatting.

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Medical Ethics

The field of ethics studies principles of right and wrong. There is hardly an area in medicine that doesn't have an ethical aspect. For example, there are ethical issues relating to :

  • End of life care : Should a patient receive nutrition ? What about advance directives and resuscitation orders?
  • Abortion : When does life begin? Is it ethical to terminate a pregnancy with a birth defect?
  • Genetic and prenatal testing: What happens if you are a carrier of a defect? What if testing shows that your unborn baby has a defect?
  • Birth control : Should it be available to minors?
  • Is it ethical to harvest embryonic stem cells to treat diseases?
  • Organ donation : Must a relative donate an organ to a sick relative?
  • Your personal health information: who has access to your records ?
  • Patient rights : Do you have the right to refuse treatment?
  • When you talk with your doctor , is it ethical for her to withhold information from you or your family?
  • End of Life Care (AGS Health in Aging Foundation)

From the National Institutes of Health

  • Organ Transplantation (Hastings Center)
  • Psychiatric Advance Directives: Getting Started (National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advance Directives)
  • Use of Opiates to Manage Pain in the Seriously and Terminally Ill Patient (American Hospice Foundation)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

  • Article: The medical licensing assessment will fall short of determining whether a...
  • Article: Andrew Conway Ivy, MD: The Missouri Physician Who Coauthored the Nuremberg...
  • Article: End-of-life in the operational functioning of public healthcare: ethical and legal...
  • Medical Ethics -- see more articles

The information on this site should not be used as a substitute for professional medical care or advice. Contact a health care provider if you have questions about your health.

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Ethics Topics for Research Papers: 140+ Ideas

ethics topics

Derived from the Greek word “ethos,” meaning “way of living,” ethics is a branch of philosophy that involves well-founded standards of right and wrong, as well as just and unjust behaviors. By defining concepts such as right, wrong, vice, justice, and crime, ethics examines an individual’s behavior in society.

When writing an ethics research paper, the first step is to come up with an appropriate ethics topic. Framing a research project on ethics requires understanding essential principles like honesty, morals, and integrity, and demonstrating the findings needed to support your hypothesis. This fundamental research can be challenging for many students, particularly those who have chosen complex research topics. Therefore, the first step is brainstorming excellent ethical topics to transform this challenging process into a smooth journey.

With this in mind, we are here to help ease this burden. This blog post compiles over 140+ captivating ethics topics across various disciplines. Each of these topics will assist you in writing a persuasive research paper that will captivate your readers and impress your professors.

Table of Contents

Ethics Comes in a Variety of Forms

Over the centuries, different philosophers have proposed numerous ethical theories. Before diving into the ethical topics that we have categorized, it is crucial to understand the various types of ethics. Ethics can be broadly classified into four branches, as follows:

Descriptive ethics: This branch of ethics deals with the theory that explains the moral norms, attitudes, and practices that societies believe to be right or wrong. It examines how people actually behave and the moral standards they claim to follow.

Normative or prescriptive ethics: The study of “norms” or “principles” that determine what is morally right or wrong and accordingly holds individuals accountable. In simpler terms, this is the study of “ethical actions.” Deontological ethics, virtue ethics, consequentialism, and Nishkam Karmayoga are some examples of normative theories.

Meta-ethics: Meta-ethics studies the nature of ethics as a whole. This branch of ethics analyzes the foundations of our ethical principles and why we use them daily. It involves the investigation of the meaning and justification of moral claims, as well as the nature of moral values and properties.

Applied ethics: This is the most practical branch of ethics. Applied ethics involves the general principles that we apply in our daily lives. This branch deals with the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of specific issues in various fields, such as medicine, business, and the environment.

Selecting the Right Research Topic in Ethics

To create an engaging research paper, the initial step is to select a high-quality research topic that will make your research stand out from the crowd. To score excellent grades, you must develop captivating ethics topics of your choice. Here are a few tips that will help you choose the best option among all the ethics paper topics:

  • When framing an ethical research paper, consider choosing a research topic with enough supporting facts, evidence, and details. Avoid any false or fabricated data, as it can ruin the credibility of your paper.
  • Select topics involving complex on-going issues or moral quandaries, as they would pique the interest of your professors. Look for topics that are occasionally covered by the media.
  • Try to write your research concisely, making it interesting, informative, and relevant. Overly long research is a major turnoff for readers.
  • Search for unsolved research paradigms that will allow you to include your opinions and arguments.
  • Engage in critical thinking on the best topics. Narrow down some of the best topics that spark your and your readers’ interests and will expand their knowledge.

Identifying the perfect topic that suits all your requirements can be challenging. You can use the tips mentioned above to identify the best topics that meet your needs. However, depending on individual students, this process can still be time-consuming. Instead of brainstorming for hours, delving into research, and writing lengthy research papers , you can seek professional assistance from our research paper writers.

140+ Ethics Topics for Research Papers

Crafting a research paper on ethics can be more challenging than it initially appears. This is because, while most people understand basic ethical values, their interpretations can vary significantly. Ethics is not just about black and white; it delves much deeper into the shades of grey. In this article, our experts from Edumagnate.com have provided you with an extensive list of ethics topics to help jumpstart your research paper. For a better understanding, we recommend reading through each list thoroughly.

Compelling Topics on Ethical Issues

Ethical dilemmas arise when individuals must evaluate whether their actions are morally right. Topics related to such dilemmas often explore complex questions, requiring one to defend their position convincingly. These ethical issues span various fields, including religion, psychology, and sociology. Consequently, incorporating perspectives from these disciplines can help create a unique and insightful research paper.

  • Ethical Codes for Sports Refereeing
  • Ethical issues in animal research
  • The ethical issues with euthanasia
  • Ethical Issues in Sports Administration
  • Legal Ethics in National and international businesses
  • Organizational Ethics and Individual Responsibility
  • Understanding sports ethics as a significant tool for accessing moral behavior in sports
  • The Ethical Challenges and Controversies of Healthcare Reform
  • The Challenge of Terri Schiavo from an ethical perspective
  • The Ethical Issues of Pharmaceutical Companies
  • Ethical Issues with Abortion
  • Sports ethics: use of drugs in sports competition
  • Healthcare systems and associated healthcare ethics
  • Ethical and cultural issues with group work
  • Political and socioeconomic issues amongst different nations
  • Religion and Ethics in healthcare provisions
  • Ethical Issues and Concerns of a professional sports person
  • The ethical side of Motorsports
  • The foundation of computer ethics

Since ethics is a branch of philosophy, students can also consider choosing philosophy research topics.

Social Media Business Ethics Topics

To make things easier, our experts have enumerated a list of the most interesting social media business ethics topics for you. These topics are thoroughly reviewed in depth to ensure optimum results for students. Check them out!

  • An Introduction to social media ethics
  • Is the notion of “controversial fit” on social media ethical?
  • Enhancing business performance on social media without eroding business ethics
  • The ethical judgment of consumers and controversial advertising avoidance on social media
  • Managing ethical responses on social media: effective guidance for business entrepreneurs
  • The ethical environment in online communities: information credibility from a social media standpoint
  • Employing big data in business organizations and business ethics
  • Social media business ethics: a view from the trenches
  • Corporate Firing for sharing questionable social media posts: a detailed analysis
  • What is the role of social media ethics in achieving responsible business?
  • The Influence of social media ethics on Enhancing the effective online presence of Businesses
  • The Influence of social media ethics in the ongoing industries
  • Social media ethics and Etiquette
  • The Impact of social media ethics on Businesses
  • The Ethical Issues of Colonizing Mars
  • Social media ethics and journalism: a detailed analysis
  • The ethical implications of social media: issues and recommendations for entrepreneurs

The Best Bio-Medical Ethics Topics

If you’re interested in bio-medical, then consider choosing a research topic from the following list of suggestions:

  • A detailed analysis of the relationship between medical ethics and religious beliefs
  • Medical Ethics in Asia versus Europe
  • Medical ethics: a detailed analysis
  • Ethical Issues in stem cell research and Therapy
  • The ethical issues and legal considerations with euthanasia
  • Ethical behavioral issues and Problems in Medicine
  • A detailed analysis for monitoring the application of idol ethics in medical fields
  • The ethical challenges and Considerations for practicing medicine overseas
  • Ethical Considerations for the Inclusion of pregnant women as research participants
  • How do medical ethics confront religious beliefs?
  • Bio-ethics versus medical ethics: a comparative analysis
  • Contemporary medical ethics: a research analysis of Iran
  • Ethical issues, including bioethics (conduct a case study)
  • Principles of bio-medical ethics
  • Human testing of drugs: is it ethical?
  • Debunking the Ethics of Neuroenhancement
  • The imperativeness of medical ethics
  • The perception of biomedical ethics
  • The Ethics of Development: an integral Approach

Read Also – Interesting biology research topics

Bioethics Research Paper Topics

Bioethics talks about topics related to health, life, genetics, neurology, and even plastic surgery. Research paper topics in bioethics are brilliant topics to write about. The following list is a compilation of 20 bioethics research paper topics that you can consider:

  • Ethical conflicts over disclosure and barring services
  • Bioethics: Why is philosophy essential for progress?
  • Contemporary Issues in Bioethics
  • A critical understanding of the ethical responsibilities associated with CRISPR
  • Bioethics and stem cell research
  • 5 strange and sinister medical procedures from History
  • Bioethics and political ideology: The case of active voluntary euthanasia
  • Availability of vaccines for everyone: an overview
  • The ethics of brain-boosting
  • Euthanasia: An Overview and the Jewish Perspective
  • The legal and ethical considerations of dealing with a brain-dead person
  • A descriptive analysis of Bioethics in Society
  • Ethics and genetic engineering—lessons to learn
  • Islam and bioethics: Beyond abortion and euthanasia
  • Exploring the ethical principles and Practice of plastic surgery
  • Pediatric neuroenhancement: ethical, legal, social, and neurodevelopmental implications
  • Bioethics, disability, and death: Uncovering cultural bias in the euthanasia debate
  • Secular Bioethics and Euthanasia in a democratic public space

Read Also – 200+ Science Research Topics

Medical Ethics Topics to Score Excellent Grades

The list of medical ethics topics below can assist you with some of these amazing medical ethics topics. For a better understanding, consider reading each topic among these recommendations:

  • Is physician-assisted suicide legal? Is it ethical?
  • The ethical and legal issues with surrogacy
  • The Ethical and Medical Implications of Circumcision
  • The Ethics of Surrogacy
  • The ethics of abortion: Is it ethically right?
  • Ethical and policy issues associated with uterine transplants
  • Ethical considerations associated with living donations: an overview
  • The Ethics of Condemned Prisoner Organ Donation
  • Ethical theories and laws associated with medical ethics
  • The Ethics of employing human embryos in genetic engineering research
  • Medical ethics dilemma: an overview
  • The ethical perspectives of the Nightingale pledge
  • The ethics of animal research
  • Current ethical issues and Challenges in Healthcare
  • Religion, beliefs, and medical ethics: an overview
  • Bioethics, human rights, and childbirth
  • Understanding Morality without ethics

Enthralling Computing Ethics Topics

Technological advancements have revolutionized all facets of human existence. Computer ethics encompass a collection of fundamental principles aimed at addressing concerns associated with the improper use of computers and outlining preventive measures. The list provided below features some of the most compelling ethical research topics in the realm of computer ethics.

  • Should ethics boards be required for IT companies?
  • Discussing the risks associated with keeping sensitive data online.
  • Is hacking a moral act?
  • Examine the ethical issues raised by artificial intelligence.
  • Exploring computer privacy-related problems and their solutions
  • The moral dilemmas associated with drone use
  • Evaluating the moral implications of internet users’ Anonymity
  • Ethical prevention of cyberbullying: What can be done for a permanent termination?
  • Sabotaging others’ computers: how is this ethically wrong?
  • Mapping the foundationalist debate in computer ethics
  • A method in computer ethics: Towards a multi-level interdisciplinary approach
  • Computer ethics: the significance of personal, formal, and informal codes
  • Gender and computer ethics
  • Reasons, relativity, and Responsibility in computer ethics
  • The Ethics of Computing: A Survey of the computing-oriented Literature
  • Computer Ethics and moral methodology
  • The ethics of online Anonymity or Zuckerberg vs.” Moot.”
  • Propose an educational plan for computer ethics and information security

Research Paper Topics in Sports Ethics

Sports ethics extend beyond mere behavior and thought processes, as they are fundamentally rooted in respect, fairness, integrity, and responsibility within the sports arena. Athletes often face dilemmas regarding what actions to take or avoid due to the ethical considerations in sports. Although this subject can be complex, a deep understanding allows for exceptional research on sports ethics. Here are some example topics:

  • Sports Ethics: An Anthology
  • Ethics in sports
  • Performance-enhancing drugs in sport: The ethical issue
  • The key components of sports ethics
  • The primary moral obligations of athletes
  • The imperativeness of ethics in sports
  • A detailed analysis of the ethical responsibilities of a sportsperson
  • Are professional sporting activities moral in today’s society?
  • The Paralympic Games and the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  • Athletes’ healthcare and ethical Concerns
  • Impact of ethical behavior outside the Pitch
  • The moral dimensions of Motorsports
  • Child exploitation to become elite athletes
  • Moral and ethical responsibilities of a sportsperson
  • How do people enter the world of professional sports, and what ethical issues do they face?
  • Alienation of sports from real life
  • How sports and games serve as the primary outlet for human ethics
  • Sports ethics and medicine
  • The unique ethics of sports medicine

Top-Notch Business Ethics Topics

Your ethics paper topic on business must be engaging and provide a practical solution to the ongoing economic challenges. Here is a compilation of some of the best business ethical topics for research papers. Each topic on this list will allow you to draft an excellent research paper and earn brilliant grades. Read on.

  • Roots of business ethics in Psychology
  • A Model of business ethics
  • A detailed study of the ethical philosophy behind Bitcoin
  • The unique connection between business success and personal integrity
  • Moral Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior
  • How closely can managers monitor their employees’ behavior?
  • Business ethics and social responsibility education: shifting the worldview
  • Ethical behaviors and economic rationality: an overview
  • Business ethics and social responsibilities
  • Who determines whether private or personal information should be collected?
  • The business ethics case of McDonald’s
  • Understanding and preventing ethical failures in leadership
  • Ethical Dilemmas in Conducting Business
  • Moral policing: It’s more business than ideology.
  • Data Security Enhancement and Business Ethics
  • Perceptions of business ethics: Students vs. business people
  • American business culture and ethical norms
  • Does business ethics make economic sense?
  • Moral Leadership and business ethics
  • Business Ethics in Islam: the glaring gap in Practice

Read Also – Business Research Topics

Criminal Justice Research Topics in Ethics

We always hear how law enforcement is made to protect the commoner’s rights. Unfortunately, it is not always the case. These law enforcers sometimes end up in morally ambiguous situations. Now and then, we often hear news about how a fellow police officer exploited a commoner. So, if this topic piques your interest, this list might be helpful for you. Below are some interesting topics in criminal justice ethics.

  • The Codes of ethics for criminal justice
  • Integrity in the Criminal Justice System
  • A detailed analysis of the ethics of criminal justice
  • Model affairs and impartial statutory policies.
  • Arguments for and against capital punishment
  • Discussion on the ethical ramifications of the “innocent until proven guilty” principle
  • Examination of the Stanford Prison Experiment’s ethical issues.
  • What moral ramifications do school shooter exercises have?
  • Discuss if Julian Assange’s prosecution is appropriate.
  • Examining the ethical difficulties of privatized prisons
  • Imprisonment of young offenders: Is it ethically right?
  • Ethics in criminal justice: theory and practices
  • Ethical Dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice

Read Also – 150 Advanced Law Research Paper Topics

Environmental Ethics Topics

If you are willing to compare and contrast topics for environmental ethics, you can take ideas from some of the below-given research topics. Read through the entire list, narrow down the best topics, and finally, set your tone to make your point.

  • An Introduction to environmental ethics
  • The bio-ethical standards of Coca-Cola
  • A detailed study of the global warming ethics
  • Assessing the US Government’s environmental ethics
  • Should companies be held accountable for preserving the environment?
  • A deeper look at the EU Administration’s environmental policy and commercial ethics
  • Environmental Regulations and business ethics
  • A detailed study on the primary environmental and ethical issues in business?
  • Ethics of setting up residential structures in sensitive habitats.
  • Animal testing in the cosmetic industry
  • Recreational environmental ethics: A more detailed examination of the effects of hunting
  • Ethical evaluation of initiatives to combat climate change
  • Commercial whaling: an ethical analysis
  • A detailed evaluation of insider trading: can we call it ethical?
  • Is there a moral case for pollution trade-off programmers?
  • What do people think about good versus bad ethics?
  • Electric vehicles can help rescue the environment.
  • Tax evasion and tax avoidance: what exactly is legally right?
  • A critical evaluation of the global warming ethics
  • Pollution trade-off programs: are they ethically justified?
  • Ethical Analysis of climate change mitigation efforts

Read Also – List of 150 Enticing Chemistry Research Topics

Final Thoughts

From the array of ethics topics provided, choose one that captures your interest and aligns with your academic preferences. We hope this list proves insightful for your upcoming research paper. If you ever feel stuck, remember that help is available!

Consider using our paper help service if you’re searching for a topic for your research proposal, thesis , dissertation, or any other academic writing. Our skilled paper helpers can assist you in developing a unique ethics research paper topic. Should you require expert guidance, don’t hesitate to seek outstanding writing assistance at a reasonable price.

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77 interesting medical research topics for 2024

Last updated

25 November 2023

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Medical research is the gateway to improved patient care and expanding our available treatment options. However, finding a relevant and compelling research topic can be challenging.

Use this article as a jumping-off point to select an interesting medical research topic for your next paper or clinical study.

  • How to choose a medical research topic

When choosing a research topic, it’s essential to consider a couple of things. What topics interest you? What unanswered questions do you want to address? 

During the decision-making and brainstorming process, here are a few helpful tips to help you pick the right medical research topic:

Focus on a particular field of study

The best medical research is specific to a particular area. Generalized studies are often too broad to produce meaningful results, so we advise picking a specific niche early in the process. 

Maybe a certain topic interests you, or your industry knowledge reveals areas of need.

Look into commonly researched topics

Once you’ve chosen your research field, do some preliminary research. What have other academics done in their papers and projects? 

From this list, you can focus on specific topics that interest you without accidentally creating a copycat project. This groundwork will also help you uncover any literature gaps—those may be beneficial areas for research.

Get curious and ask questions

Now you can get curious. Ask questions that start with why, how, or what. These questions are the starting point of your project design and will act as your guiding light throughout the process. 

For example: 

What impact does pollution have on children’s lung function in inner-city neighborhoods? 

Why is pollution-based asthma on the rise? 

How can we address pollution-induced asthma in young children? 

  • 77 medical research topics worth exploring in 2023

Need some research inspiration for your upcoming paper or clinical study? We’ve compiled a list of 77 topical and in-demand medical research ideas. Let’s take a look. 

  • Exciting new medical research topics

If you want to study cutting-edge topics, here are some exciting options:

COVID-19 and long COVID symptoms

Since 2020, COVID-19 has been a hot-button topic in medicine, along with the long-term symptoms in those with a history of COVID-19. 

Examples of COVID-19-related research topics worth exploring include:

The long-term impact of COVID-19 on cardiac and respiratory health

COVID-19 vaccination rates

The evolution of COVID-19 symptoms over time

New variants and strains of the COVID-19 virus

Changes in social behavior and public health regulations amid COVID-19

Vaccinations

Finding ways to cure or reduce the disease burden of chronic infectious diseases is a crucial research area. Vaccination is a powerful option and a great topic to research. 

Examples of vaccination-related research topics include:

mRNA vaccines for viral infections

Biomaterial vaccination capabilities

Vaccination rates based on location, ethnicity, or age

Public opinion about vaccination safety 

Artificial tissues fabrication

With the need for donor organs increasing, finding ways to fabricate artificial bioactive tissues (and possibly organs) is a popular research area. 

Examples of artificial tissue-related research topics you can study include:

The viability of artificially printed tissues

Tissue substrate and building block material studies

The ethics and efficacy of artificial tissue creation

  • Medical research topics for medical students

For many medical students, research is a big driver for entering healthcare. If you’re a medical student looking for a research topic, here are some great ideas to work from:

Sleep disorders

Poor sleep quality is a growing problem, and it can significantly impact a person’s overall health. 

Examples of sleep disorder-related research topics include:

How stress affects sleep quality

The prevalence and impact of insomnia on patients with mental health conditions

Possible triggers for sleep disorder development

The impact of poor sleep quality on psychological and physical health

How melatonin supplements impact sleep quality

Alzheimer’s and dementia 

Cognitive conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are on the rise worldwide. They currently have no cure. As a result, research about these topics is in high demand. 

Examples of dementia-related research topics you could explore include:

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in a chosen population

Early onset symptoms of dementia

Possible triggers or causes of cognitive decline with age

Treatment options for dementia-like conditions

The mental and physical burden of caregiving for patients with dementia

  • Lifestyle habits and public health

Modern lifestyles have profoundly impacted the average person’s daily habits, and plenty of interesting topics explore its effects. 

Examples of lifestyle and public health-related research topics include:

The nutritional intake of college students

The impact of chronic work stress on overall health

The rise of upper back and neck pain from laptop use

Prevalence and cause of repetitive strain injuries (RSI)

  • Controversial medical research paper topics

Medical research is a hotbed of controversial topics, content, and areas of study. 

If you want to explore a more niche (and attention-grabbing) concept, here are some controversial medical research topics worth looking into:

The benefits and risks of medical cannabis

Depending on where you live, the legalization and use of cannabis for medical conditions is controversial for the general public and healthcare providers.

Examples of medical cannabis-related research topics that might grab your attention include:

The legalization process of medical cannabis

The impact of cannabis use on developmental milestones in youth users

Cannabis and mental health diagnoses

CBD’s impact on chronic pain

Prevalence of cannabis use in young people

The impact of maternal cannabis use on fetal development 

Understanding how THC impacts cognitive function

Human genetics

The Human Genome Project identified, mapped, and sequenced all human DNA genes. Its completion in 2003 opened up a world of exciting and controversial studies in human genetics.

Examples of human genetics-related research topics worth delving into include:

Medical genetics and the incidence of genetic-based health disorders

Behavioral genetics differences between identical twins

Genetic risk factors for neurodegenerative disorders

Machine learning technologies for genetic research

Sexual health studies

Human sexuality and sexual health are important (yet often stigmatized) medical topics that need new research and analysis.

As a diverse field ranging from sexual orientation studies to sexual pathophysiology, examples of sexual health-related research topics include:

The incidence of sexually transmitted infections within a chosen population

Mental health conditions within the LGBTQIA+ community

The impact of untreated sexually transmitted infections

Access to safe sex resources (condoms, dental dams, etc.) in rural areas

  • Health and wellness research topics

Human wellness and health are trendy topics in modern medicine as more people are interested in finding natural ways to live healthier lifestyles. 

If this field of study interests you, here are some big topics in the wellness space:

Gluten sensitivity

Gluten allergies and intolerances have risen over the past few decades. If you’re interested in exploring this topic, your options range in severity from mild gastrointestinal symptoms to full-blown anaphylaxis. 

Some examples of gluten sensitivity-related research topics include:

The pathophysiology and incidence of Celiac disease

Early onset symptoms of gluten intolerance

The prevalence of gluten allergies within a set population

Gluten allergies and the incidence of other gastrointestinal health conditions

Pollution and lung health

Living in large urban cities means regular exposure to high levels of pollutants. 

As more people become interested in protecting their lung health, examples of impactful lung health and pollution-related research topics include:

The extent of pollution in densely packed urban areas

The prevalence of pollution-based asthma in a set population

Lung capacity and function in young people

The benefits and risks of steroid therapy for asthma

Pollution risks based on geographical location

Plant-based diets

Plant-based diets like vegan and paleo diets are emerging trends in healthcare due to their limited supporting research. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the potential benefits or risks of holistic, diet-based medicine, examples of plant-based diet research topics to explore include:

Vegan and plant-based diets as part of disease management

Potential risks and benefits of specific plant-based diets

Plant-based diets and their impact on body mass index

The effect of diet and lifestyle on chronic disease management

Health supplements

Supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry. Many health-conscious people take supplements, including vitamins, minerals, herbal medicine, and more. 

Examples of health supplement-related research topics worth investigating include:

Omega-3 fish oil safety and efficacy for cardiac patients

The benefits and risks of regular vitamin D supplementation

Health supplementation regulation and product quality

The impact of social influencer marketing on consumer supplement practices

Analyzing added ingredients in protein powders

  • Healthcare research topics

Working within the healthcare industry means you have insider knowledge and opportunity. Maybe you’d like to research the overall system, administration, and inherent biases that disrupt access to quality care. 

While these topics are essential to explore, it is important to note that these studies usually require approval and oversight from an Institutional Review Board (IRB). This ensures the study is ethical and does not harm any subjects. 

For this reason, the IRB sets protocols that require additional planning, so consider this when mapping out your study’s timeline. 

Here are some examples of trending healthcare research areas worth pursuing:

The pros and cons of electronic health records

The rise of electronic healthcare charting and records has forever changed how medical professionals and patients interact with their health data. 

Examples of electronic health record-related research topics include:

The number of medication errors reported during a software switch

Nurse sentiment analysis of electronic charting practices

Ethical and legal studies into encrypting and storing personal health data

Inequities within healthcare access

Many barriers inhibit people from accessing the quality medical care they need. These issues result in health disparities and injustices. 

Examples of research topics about health inequities include:

The impact of social determinants of health in a set population

Early and late-stage cancer stage diagnosis in urban vs. rural populations

Affordability of life-saving medications

Health insurance limitations and their impact on overall health

Diagnostic and treatment rates across ethnicities

People who belong to an ethnic minority are more likely to experience barriers and restrictions when trying to receive quality medical care. This is due to systemic healthcare racism and bias. 

As a result, diagnostic and treatment rates in minority populations are a hot-button field of research. Examples of ethnicity-based research topics include:

Cancer biopsy rates in BIPOC women

The prevalence of diabetes in Indigenous communities

Access inequalities in women’s health preventative screenings

The prevalence of undiagnosed hypertension in Black populations

  • Pharmaceutical research topics

Large pharmaceutical companies are incredibly interested in investing in research to learn more about potential cures and treatments for diseases. 

If you’re interested in building a career in pharmaceutical research, here are a few examples of in-demand research topics:

Cancer treatment options

Clinical research is in high demand as pharmaceutical companies explore novel cancer treatment options outside of chemotherapy and radiation. 

Examples of cancer treatment-related research topics include:

Stem cell therapy for cancer

Oncogenic gene dysregulation and its impact on disease

Cancer-causing viral agents and their risks

Treatment efficacy based on early vs. late-stage cancer diagnosis

Cancer vaccines and targeted therapies

Immunotherapy for cancer

Pain medication alternatives

Historically, opioid medications were the primary treatment for short- and long-term pain. But, with the opioid epidemic getting worse, the need for alternative pain medications has never been more urgent. 

Examples of pain medication-related research topics include:

Opioid withdrawal symptoms and risks

Early signs of pain medication misuse

Anti-inflammatory medications for pain control

  • Identify trends in your medical research with Dovetail

Are you interested in contributing life-changing research? Today’s medical research is part of the future of clinical patient care. 

After you choose the right topic for your study, make data collection and trend identification more effortless than ever with Dovetail. 

As your go-to resource for speedy and accurate data analysis, we are proud to partner with healthcare researchers to innovate and improve the future of healthcare.

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Applied Ethics Research Paper Topics

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This page provides a comprehensive list of applied ethics research paper topics , offering a valuable resource for students studying ethics. Explore the diverse and thought-provoking subjects within applied ethics, ranging from environmental ethics to medical ethics and beyond. Whether you’re seeking inspiration or guidance for your research paper, this page offers an extensive selection of topics to delve into.

Applied ethics covers a wide spectrum of ethical dilemmas and considerations that shape our world. It provides an opportunity for in-depth examination and critical analysis of real-world issues, making it a fascinating and relevant field of study. By perusing these topics, you can uncover the ethical dimensions of contemporary challenges and engage in meaningful academic exploration.

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From discussions on the ethical implications of emerging technologies to debates about the moral responsibilities in business practices, applied ethics invites you to question, reflect, and develop a deeper understanding of the ethical underpinnings of various aspects of our lives. Whether you are a student looking to embark on a research journey or an instructor seeking to guide your students in ethical investigations, this page serves as a valuable starting point.

Browse through the list of applied ethics research paper topics presented here, and let them spark your curiosity and critical thinking. Explore the ethical landscapes that surround us and find inspiration for your next research paper within the diverse and complex realm of applied ethics.

100 Applied Ethics Research Paper Topics

Exploring applied ethics research paper topics is a journey into the heart of ethical considerations that shape our world. The field of applied ethics offers a diverse array of subjects, each with its unique set of moral dilemmas and challenges. As students of ethics, you have the opportunity to delve deep into these issues, critically examine them, and contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding ethical decision-making. In this section, we present ten categories, each featuring ten research paper topics, to guide your exploration and inspire your academic pursuits in applied ethics.

Environmental Ethics

  • The Ethics of Climate Change Mitigation Policies
  • Biodiversity Conservation and Moral Responsibility
  • Eco-Centric Ethics and Environmental Preservation
  • Ethical Dilemmas in Environmental Impact Assessments
  • Sustainable Agriculture and Ethical Consumer Choices
  • Environmental Justice: Bridging the Gap
  • Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Greenwashing
  • The Ethics of Wildlife Management
  • Pollution Control and Moral Implications
  • Indigenous Knowledge and Environmental Ethics

Medical Ethics

  • Autonomy vs. Paternalism in Medical Decision-Making
  • The Ethics of Genetic Engineering and Designer Babies
  • End-of-Life Care: Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide
  • Organ Transplantation and Allocation Ethics
  • Human Cloning: Ethical Boundaries
  • Informed Consent and Medical Research
  • Medical Data Privacy and Ethical Concerns
  • Pharmaceutical Industry Ethics
  • Access to Healthcare: A Moral Imperative
  • Ethical Dilemmas in Pandemic Response

Business Ethics

  • Corporate Social Responsibility and Profit Maximization
  • Ethical Leadership in the Business World
  • The Ethics of Advertising and Consumer Manipulation
  • Whistleblowing: Ethical Dilemmas and Protection
  • Gender Equality in the Workplace: Ethical Perspectives
  • Ethical Challenges in Supply Chain Management
  • Environmental Sustainability in Business Practices
  • Ethical Implications of AI in Decision-Making
  • Bribery and Corruption: Global Perspectives
  • Ethical Considerations in Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Cloning and Reproductive Ethics
  • The Ethics of Human Genome Editing
  • Access to Healthcare and Global Health Inequities
  • Stem Cell Research: Ethical Controversies
  • Privacy and Genetic Information
  • Ethical Issues in Human Enhancement Technologies
  • Ethical Dimensions of Neuroenhancement
  • Surrogacy: Legal and Ethical Complexities
  • Research Ethics in Biomedical Studies
  • Ethical Challenges in Organ Trafficking and Transplantation

Technology Ethics

  • AI and Ethics: Autonomy vs. Control
  • The Ethics of Data Privacy and Surveillance
  • Robot Rights: Ethical Considerations
  • Bias and Fairness in Machine Learning Algorithms
  • Cybersecurity and Ethical Responsibility
  • Ethical Implications of Biometric Technologies
  • Technology’s Impact on Human Relationships
  • The Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles
  • Virtual Reality and Ethical Realities
  • Ethical Hacking: Balancing Security and Privacy

Political Ethics

  • Ethics of Political Campaigning and Propaganda
  • Human Rights Violations and International Ethics
  • The Morality of Political Lobbying
  • Ethics in Political Decision-Making
  • Corruption in Politics: Causes and Consequences
  • The Ethics of Interventionism in International Relations
  • Transparency and Accountability in Government
  • Ethical Dimensions of Immigration Policies
  • Social Contract Theory and Political Legitimacy
  • Environmental Ethics in Political Decision-Making

Social Ethics

  • Equality vs. Equity: Ethical Perspectives
  • Social Justice Movements and Ethical Activism
  • Poverty and Ethical Responsibility
  • Ethical Considerations in Education
  • Discrimination and Stereotyping: Ethical Implications
  • Ethical Dimensions of Social Media Use
  • Ethical Challenges in Globalization
  • Healthcare Access and Social Ethics
  • Ethical Aspects of Criminal Justice Reform
  • Aging Population and Ethical Healthcare Allocation

Animal Ethics

  • Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare
  • Factory Farming and Ethical Concerns
  • Wildlife Conservation and Ethical Dilemmas
  • Animal Testing: Ethical Alternatives
  • The Ethics of Pet Ownership
  • Ethical Considerations in Zoos and Aquariums
  • Biotechnology and Animal Ethics
  • Ethics of Hunting and Trophy Hunting
  • Ethical Implications of Animal Extinction
  • The Ethics of Animal Research

Ethical Theories

  • Utilitarianism: Applications and Critiques
  • Deontology and Its Role in Ethical Decision-Making
  • Virtue Ethics and Personal Character
  • Feminist Ethics and Gender Relations
  • Cultural Relativism vs. Universal Ethical Principles
  • Principlism in Bioethics
  • Ethical Egoism: Individual vs. Collective Good
  • Rights-Based Ethics and Human Rights
  • Environmental Ethics Theories: Deep Ecology vs. Shallow Ecology
  • Ethics of Care: Relationships and Responsibilities

Ethical Issues in Science

  • Scientific Integrity and Research Ethics
  • Ethical Implications of Gene Editing Technologies
  • Dual Use Dilemmas in Science and Technology
  • Ethical Challenges in Animal Research
  • Environmental Ethics in Scientific Research
  • Data Fabrication and Falsification in Scientific Studies
  • Ethical Issues in Human Subject Research
  • Scientific Responsibility in Emerging Fields
  • Ethical Dimensions of Biomedical Research
  • Ethical Considerations in Space Exploration and Colonization

As you peruse this extensive list of applied ethics research paper topics, we hope you find inspiration for your academic endeavors. These topics represent the ethical complexities and dilemmas that permeate various aspects of our society, demanding critical examination and thoughtful reflection. Whether you are interested in the intersection of ethics and technology, the moral considerations in healthcare, or the ethical implications of business practices, there’s a wealth of subjects to explore within applied ethics. Your research in this field can contribute to the ongoing discourse on ethical decision-making and help shape a more ethical future for our world.

The Range of Applied Ethics and Research Paper Topics

In the realm of academic inquiry, few fields offer the richness and relevance of Applied Ethics. This branch of ethics stands as a sentinel, guarding the intersections where moral principles meet real-world dilemmas. For students of ethics, delving into Applied Ethics is akin to embarking on a profound intellectual journey, one that not only sharpens critical thinking but also fosters a profound understanding of the ethical complexities that shape our society. In this article, we delve into the significance of Applied Ethics as a field of study and highlight the vast array of research paper topics it offers, showcasing the depth and breadth of ethical inquiry available.

Significance of Applied Ethics

At the heart of Applied Ethics lies the quest to navigate the intricate web of ethical considerations inherent in our daily lives. It is a field that challenges us to confront moral dilemmas across various domains, encouraging us to grapple with questions like, “What is the right thing to do?” or “What are our moral obligations in this context?” In essence, Applied Ethics transcends abstract ethical theories and immerses us in the tangible and often thorny ethical issues we encounter in our personal, professional, and societal spheres.

One of the primary reasons for the significance of Applied Ethics is its practicality. Unlike some other philosophical disciplines, Applied Ethics is not confined to the ivory tower of academic discourse. Instead, it directly addresses the ethical challenges and moral decisions that individuals, organizations, and societies face daily. Whether it’s assessing the ethics of a medical procedure, evaluating the environmental impact of a business practice, or examining the morality of political decisions, Applied Ethics provides a toolkit for ethical analysis and decision-making in the real world.

Furthermore, Applied Ethics serves as a moral compass for society. It helps us navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technological advancements, global interconnectedness, and ethical dilemmas that accompany these changes. In essence, it empowers us to make informed and ethical choices in an increasingly complex world.

The Broad Range of Research Paper Topics

One of the distinctive features of Applied Ethics is its diversity. Applied Ethics research paper topics span a wide spectrum of domains, making it a field ripe for exploration and scholarly investigation. Below, we highlight just a few areas within Applied Ethics, demonstrating the range of topics available for research and analysis.

Environmental Ethics : Within this subfield, you can delve into topics such as the ethics of climate change mitigation policies, the moral dilemmas of wildlife conservation, or the ethical implications of sustainable agriculture. These topics are of utmost importance in our efforts to address pressing environmental challenges.

Medical Ethics : The ethical dimensions of healthcare are multifaceted. Research paper topics may include the autonomy vs. paternalism debate, ethical considerations in end-of-life care, or the impact of genetic engineering on our moral framework. These topics are at the forefront of contemporary ethical discussions in the medical field.

Business Ethics : Business practices and ethics often intersect. Topics like corporate social responsibility, the ethics of advertising, or the challenges of ethical leadership offer a rich terrain for exploration, shedding light on the moral underpinnings of corporate decisions.

Technology Ethics : In the age of rapid technological advancements, questions about data privacy, artificial intelligence, and the ethics of autonomous vehicles abound. Researching these topics allows students to engage in debates that will shape our technological future.

Political Ethics : Ethical dilemmas in politics, diplomacy, and international relations are perennial concerns. Research topics may encompass issues like human rights violations, transparency in government, or the moral implications of interventionism.

Social Ethics : In examining social issues, you might explore topics related to social justice, discrimination, or ethical challenges in education. These topics delve into the moral fabric of society and offer insights into pressing contemporary issues.

Animal Ethics : The ethical treatment of animals is a matter of growing concern. Research paper topics can cover issues such as animal rights, factory farming, or the ethics of animal testing, contributing to discussions on animal welfare and ethical responsibility.

Ethical Theories : Beyond specific issues, Applied Ethics also delves into ethical theories. Exploring topics related to utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and others provides a foundational understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of ethical decision-making.

Ethical Issues in Science : Science and technology raise unique ethical questions. Topics like scientific integrity, gene editing, and ethical considerations in space exploration delve into the moral dimensions of scientific progress.

The breadth of Applied Ethics research paper topics is a testament to the field’s vitality and relevance. Students who choose to study Applied Ethics have the opportunity to engage deeply with these topics, contributing to our collective understanding of ethics in action.

In conclusion, Applied Ethics research paper topics are not just academic exercises; they represent the ethical fabric of our society. As you embark on your journey into this field, you’ll discover a wealth of subjects that challenge your intellect, refine your ethical compass, and equip you to make informed and morally sound decisions in the complex world we inhabit. So, dive in, explore, and let Applied Ethics guide your ethical exploration and academic pursuits.

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175 Unique Bioethics Topics To Consider for Academic Paper

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If you are a student who is learning a course in biology or applied science, then for your assignments you can choose bioethics topics. Right now, do you want to write a research paper on bioethics topics? Are you struggling to come up with the best bioethics research topics? Here, in this blog post, we have created a list of the top bioethics topic ideas you can think about for academic writing. Continue reading this blog post and gain interesting bioethics research paper concepts that will help you earn an A+ grade.

What is Bioethics?

Bioethics is a study of the ethical issues that arise from medicine, biology, and technology. It primarily focuses on the philosophical, legal, and social issues that exist in the fields of life sciences, biotechnology, law, public health, theology, healthcare, and medicine. But sometimes it also connects with the ethical questions that are based on the biological environment.

Tips for Selecting a Bioethics Topic for Academic Paper

We hope you are now clear about what bioethics means. Based on the definition of bioethics, you can choose any topic to write about. But remember, not every topic is ideal. Hence, during the bioethics research paper topic selection, make sure to keep the following tips in mind.

  • Choose a topic that matches your interest.
  • Pick a topic that you have a strong knowledge of because it would be comfortable for you to perform research.
  • Give preference to a topic that focuses on any current and latest bioethical issues.
  • Your research paper should address a unique topic that is different from the topics that have been already published.

Basically, for writing a research paper, you can think about the following principles of bioethics.

  • Principle of non-maleficence
  • Principle of respect for autonomy
  • Principle of beneficence
  • Principle of justice

Medical practices are identified as ethical only if they favor these principles. Therefore, when selecting a topic for a bioethics research paper, consider all these principles.

List of Bioethics Topics and Research Ideas

There are plenty of bioethics topics and research paper topics ideas available. If you are running short of ideas, then feel free to check the list of the best bioethics research paper topic ideas suggested below.

Bioethics Topics for School and College Students

  • The history of bioethics.
  • Discuss “appeal to disgust”.
  • Cloning and reproductive technologies
  • Explain utilitarian bioethics.
  • What are the major gene therapy vectors?
  • Explain veterinary bioethics.
  • The principle of double effect.
  • Analyze the plant blindness effect in recent years.
  • Explain the concept of Dignitas personae.
  • Discuss the ethics of uncertain sentience.
  • Analyze the playing God ideology in ethics.
  • Discuss plant rights in the United States.
  • Explain bioprinting.
  • Analyze the ethics behind remote-controlled animals.
  • Perform a study of Postgenderism.
  • Analyze Psychological warfare tactics.
  • Cross-Cultural Issues and Diverse Beliefs. Difficult Patient Encounters. Do Not Resuscitate during Anesthesia and Urgent Procedures. Do Not Resuscitate Orders. …
  • Futility. HIV and AIDS. Informed Consent. …
  • Mistakes. Neonatal ICU Issues. Pandemics. …
  • Physician-Patient Relationship. Prenatal Diagnosis. Professionalism.

Also read: A Catalog Of 120 Genetics Research Topics

Common Bioethics Topics

  • Discuss the ethical problems with animal testing.
  • Explain the legal issues in bioethics.
  • Discuss new eugenics.
  • Explain biobank ethics.
  • Analyze the claims of abortion doping.
  • The formation of the International Bioethics Committee.
  • What is bio-happiness?
  • Explain the important gene therapies.
  • The creation of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
  • Focus on the work of Ian Kennedy in bioethics.
  • How can physicians handle advanced care planning issues?
  • Explain the difference between rationing and futility.
  • How does religiosity affect medicine?
  • Explain the proportionality between good and bad effect
  • Describe the fair distribution of health.

Excellent Bioethics Research Paper Topics

  • Analyze the process of biodefense.
  • Explain the difference between the means and effects in bioethics.
  • How can an agent achieve a good effect even though it’s foreseen?
  • Compare experimental intervention and futile intervention.
  • Explain the differences between advance care planning and advance directives.
  • Is it ethical for physicians to disclose medical mistakes to patients?
  • Can a “right to healthcare” be ethically qualified?
  • Explain paternalism.
  • How can a physician deal with prejudice when addressing HIV/AIDS cases?
  • What is moral enhancement?

Bioethics Topics

Top Bioethics Research Topics

  • Analyze the concept of morphological freedom.
  • Discuss the ethics behind the Oncomouse.
  • Explain neuroethics in the United States.
  • The ethical problems with cloning.
  • Discuss the medical ethics in the military.
  • Explain the role of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
  • Analyze the science behind genetically engineered babies.
  • Discuss the National Biodefense Strategy of the United Kingdom.
  • Discuss the British Operation Cauldron.
  • Gene therapy technology.
  • Explain the ethics behind Organ transplantation.
  • Brain imaging.
  • Explore the science behind memory dampening.
  • Discuss the Reversal Test.
  • The creation of an effective vaccine against COVID-19.

Also read: Great Ethics Topics To Consider For Writing Academic Papers

Interesting Bioethics Topics

  • Analyze end-of-life care in the UK.
  • The regulation of medical science.
  • The Hamster cell.
  • Reproductive technology ethics.
  • The immortal HeLa human cell line.
  • Analyze the process of stem cell doping.
  • What are the negative effects of stem cell tourism?
  • The retention of the Ebola virus.
  • Informed consent in 20 th -century medicine.
  • An in-depth look at HEK 293 cells.
  • What are neuroenhancement drugs?
  • Explain the concept of surrogacy.
  • Analyze the ethics behind viral animal testing.
  • Bioethics versus epidemiology disciplines.
  • The ethics behind brain stimulation technology.

Trending Bioethics Thesis Topics

  • Explain the concept of biopolitics.
  • Discuss biological warfare.
  • What are the new bioweapons?
  • Explain bio-risk.
  • Is keeping a brain-dead person alive the right choice?
  • Discuss biotic ethics.
  • What are Stem cell research ethical problems?
  • Are GMOs dangerous for humans?
  • The effects of plastic surgery.
  • Discuss the concept of biopiracy.
  • Discuss the ethical issues ‘on the horizon’ in biology and medicine as highlighted by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics
  • Compare and contrast the similarities and differences between medical ethics and bioethics
  • What should be done with the child of a brain-dead pregnant woman?
  • Is it ethical to improve memory functions with brain stimulation?
  • ‘End-of-life care’ and ‘Allocation of Medical Resources’ are the two key areas that create bioethical issues: Explain with justifications
  • How the National Center for Ethics in Health Care (NCEHC) helps to address bioethical issues and ensure proper healthcare management
  • Compare and contrast the bioethical issues that arise in Euthanasia, Eugenics, and Organ Donation
  • Discuss the importance of following the principles of bioethics for lab assistants and pharmacists
  • Describe the different types of Organ Donation and ethical issues associated with them using real stories in the context of the UK
  • Analyze the impact of bioethics on minority communities and society as a whole

Also read: Human Rights Topics to Impress Your Professor

Outstanding Research Topics on Bioethics

  • Definitions of death about terminating life.
  • Intrinsic value of species.
  • Genetic testing issues.
  • Artificially sustaining and prolonging life.
  • Ethics behind the use of steroids.
  • Privacy and Ownership of genetic information.
  • Discuss Xenotransplantation.
  • Are triage decisions guided by ethical criteria?
  • Is Euthanasia ethical?
  • Appropriate use of genetic material sampled from indigenous populations.
  • Is it ethical to use humans for clinical trials?
  • Bioethical issues of Cryonics.
  • Explain the use of patient cells for cell lines.
  • Discuss artificial exoskeleton.
  • Explain the ethics behind the use of growth hormones.

Best Bioethics Research Ideas

  • What should a physician do when a patient refuses to undergo an HIV test?
  • How do interdisciplinary teams work?
  • Explain Bone Conduction.
  • Explain the role of a physician’s personal belief in a physician-patient relationship.
  • What are the funding policies for old-age care?
  • How can doctors address difficulties with advanced care planning without frightening their patients?
  • How can doctors counsel patients if they think their relatives would likely disagree with their wishes?
  • Should a patient who isn’t likely to stick with the recommended course of treatment be given protease inhibitors?
  • When a patient declines to take routine preventive health measures, what should public health doctors do?
  • If a doctor admits to making a mistake, does it put them at risk for a malpractice lawsuit?
  • When a doctor observes a mistake by a colleague, what should they do?
  • Altruism – Medical professionals must put their patients’ needs ahead of their own.
  • Accountability – When it comes to matters of public health, doctors should be held responsible by their patients, profession, and society.
  • Excellence — Lifelong learning is a must for doctors.
  • Duty: Doctors have a responsibility to serve the community and their profession by being attentive, on-call, and available.

Latest Research Topics on Bioethics

  • How do medical professionals err?
  • Do doctors have an ethical obligation to inform patients about medical errors?
  • How does a doctor decide when to inform a patient of a mistake?
  • When should doctors notify public health authorities about a communicable disease?
  • Can public health care professionals treat patients against their wishes?
  • Can admitting mistakes damage a patient’s faith in a doctor?
  • What should a doctor do if they see a mistake by a colleague?
  • How ought doctors to interact with hospital chaplains?
  • What part do a doctor’s personal beliefs play in the doctor-patient relationship?
  • How traditional ethics committees can promote shared decision-making between patients (or their surrogates if decisional incapacitated) and their clinicians?
  • Discuss about the duties and responsibilities of an attending physician under the Washington Death with Dignity Act
  • Is physician aid-in-dying (PAD) the same as euthanasia and ethically permissible? Explain with justifications by focusing on any three developing countries’ acts related to euthanasia
  • What if the family of a critical patient asks a registered nurse or physician to withhold the truth from the patient? Is this an ethical practice, if not then explain why?
  • Is it justifiable to deceive a patient with a placebo? Explain with appropriate justifications

High-quality Bioethics Essay Topics

  • What are the major goals and expected patient outcomes of advanced care planning for old-age patients?
  • How should a registered nurse in Australia advise a patient and the patient’s family if she or she does not have anyone to name as a proxy?
  • Why euthanasia, eugenics, and organ donation are the major controversial topics in bioethics, and in which countries these are most controversial?
  • Compare and contrast the reasons behind the controversies related to end-of-life care and eugenics
  • Discuss the difference between an ethics committee and an ethics consultant in the field of bioethics

Popular Bioethics Topics

  • Write about healthcare justice.
  • Prepare an essay on compulsory vaccination.
  • Write an essay about the reproductive cloning of humans.
  • Discuss antinatalism in a debate
  • Explain the Reversal Test.
  • Discuss Mildred Z. Solomon’s contribution to bioethics.
  • Write about Bioethics and the feminist side.
  • Discuss animal rights in California
  • Prepare an essay on herbalism.
  • Discuss Islamic bioethics.

Also read: 170 Ethical Essay Topics and Ideas For Students To Focus On

Amazing Bioethics Essay Prompts

  • Explain the use of stem cells.
  • The rise to power of genetically modified organisms
  • Discuss the ethical issues related to abortion.
  • Focus on the failure of the President’s Council on Bioethics.
  • GMO crops altering wild populations
  • Discuss the Three Rs in animal testing
  • Discuss doping in a sport of your choice
  • Explain state-of-the-art tech for brain imaging
  • Analyze the risks of selective reproduction.
  • Discuss the risks of having genetic and medical data stolen.

The Bottom Line

From the list of bioethics topics recommended in this blog post, you can use any topic of your choice for writing a research paper or thesis. In case, you need more bioethics topic ideas or assistance for writing a bioethics research paper, quickly contact us. We have a team of professional academic writers to work on bioethics topics.

Do you want to score an A+ grade for your academic writing? If yes, then without any hesitation, immediately make use of our professional assignment writing help .

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Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics

Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics: Medical ethics is a field that examines the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise in healthcare. It involves navigating complex issues related to patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and the allocation of limited resources. Research in medical ethics contributes to the development of guidelines, policies, and frameworks that ensure ethical decision-making and promote patient well-being. If you are interested in exploring research topics in medical ethics, here are some thought-provoking areas to consider:

Informed Consent and Patient Autonomy:

  • Ethical considerations in informed consent for medical procedures and research involving vulnerable populations.
  • The role of shared decision-making in promoting patient autonomy and improving healthcare outcomes.
  • Exploring the ethical challenges of surrogate decision-making for patients lacking decisional capacity.
  • Cultural perspectives on informed consent and patient autonomy in healthcare decision-making.
  • Examining the use of emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence) in informed consent processes.

End-of-Life Care and Palliative Medicine:

  • Ethical dilemmas in end-of-life decision-making: exploring the balance between patient autonomy and beneficence.
  • Evaluating the role of advance care planning and healthcare proxies in ensuring patient preferences are respected.
  • Examining the ethical implications of physician-assisted death and euthanasia.
  • The ethical challenges of withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatments in critical care settings.
  • The role of palliative care in addressing ethical issues related to pain management, quality of life, and communication.

Ethical Issues in Reproductive Medicine:

  • Examining the ethical considerations of assisted reproductive technologies, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy.
  • The ethical implications of genetic testing and screening in reproductive decision-making.
  • Exploring the ethical dilemmas of reproductive cloning and gene editing technologies.
  • The intersection of cultural, religious, and ethical perspectives on contraception and family planning.
  • Ethical considerations in maternal-fetal medicine, including prenatal diagnosis and fetal interventions.

Equity, Justice, and Resource Allocation:

  • Ethical challenges in allocating scarce healthcare resources during public health emergencies.
  • Examining the ethical implications of health disparities and social determinants of health.
  • The role of distributive justice in healthcare resource allocation: exploring theories and practical applications.
  • Ethical considerations in global health initiatives and access to healthcare in low-resource settings.
  • Evaluating the ethical implications of healthcare rationing and priority-setting in resource-constrained environments.

Professionalism and Ethical Conduct:

  • Ethical challenges in the use of social media by healthcare professionals: privacy, confidentiality, and boundary issues.
  • The ethical responsibilities of healthcare professionals in conflict of interest situations.
  • Exploring the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and automation in healthcare practice.
  • The role of ethics committees and consultation services in addressing complex ethical dilemmas.
  • Ethical considerations in medical research, including participant recruitment, data handling, and publication practices.

These research paper topics cover a wide range of areas within medical ethics, from informed consent and patient autonomy to end-of-life care, reproductive medicine, resource allocation, and professional conduct. Choose a topic that aligns with your interests and academic goals, and remember to conduct thorough research, consult with your advisor or mentor, and use reliable sources to support your findings.

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Steve George is Blogger, a marketer and content writer. He has B.A. in Economics from the University of Washington. Read more about Mzuri Mag .

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February 13, 2024

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The San people of southern Africa: Where ethics codes for researching indigenous people could fail them

by Stasja Koot, The Conversation

south africa people

There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book " Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples , "emphasized the colonial character of much research. She warned that it "brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation and appropriation."

Well into the 20th century , researchers depicted groups like the Indigenous San of southern Africa in a racist fashion, fixating on their physical characteristics and writing of their "savage" or "primitive" state.

Historically, many researchers did not care about their study participants' consent or agency, or how they could benefit from the research, for instance through improving their position in society.

This has gradually shifted over the past 50 years. Global organizations such as the Ethical Research Partnership TRUST , the American Anthropological Association and most, if not all, credible academic institutions, have created ethical rules and guidelines to protect vulnerable populations from exploitation and promote their role in research.

But, as I and a group of fellow ethnographers, together with San people from all over southern Africa, show in a recent paper , such ethical guidelines have flaws.

Today there are about 130,000 San people in Angola, Botswana, Namibia , South Africa and Zimbabwe. They were historically nomadic hunter-gatherers; in the past century or so, their lives have become more settled, based on agriculture and wage labor.

The pitfalls we identified in the guidelines manifest mainly in three ways: by oppressing vulnerable groups , by being ambiguous about potential benefits to the participants, and by being difficult to follow in practice.

Three issues

There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important. Ethical rules are there to prevent what's known as "ethics dumping" , in which unethical research practices are used in lower-income countries that would not normally be allowed elsewhere. They also guard against "helicopter research" , when scientists from high-income countries conduct their research without involving local scientists or communities.

In 2017 a code of conduct was created by academics and San leaders working with and for the South African San Institute, the South African San Council and TRUST. The paper discussed in this article, as well as one other , analyzed problems with this code and similar instruments, and individual contracts unique to a particular piece of research.

These were:

1. Oppression of opinions: Authorities (often NGOs) sometimes want to push their agenda by keeping unwelcome ideas out of the research. In South Africa, a colleague of mine encountered dubious gatekeepers who claimed to represent the community she hoped to study and who wanted to dictate whom she could interview.

An instrument intended to promote ethical research was used to exclude particular people, or their ideas.

2. An over-emphasis on immediate benefits: Most codes of conduct and contracts include a clause that research must be "beneficial". This ignores the essence of what most scientific research is: fundamental and not applied. Fundamental knowledge is not immediately practical but it is crucial to make research potentially beneficial.

I have worked on research about a land claim by the San in northern Namibia. Knowledge similar to the sort reflected in my research has helped San groups in other parts of southern Africa regain or retain land . Will my research do the same? I have no idea, because that takes time—the research doesn't instantly benefit the participants.

A focus on benefits also ignores different interests and perceptions within communities. A benefit for some may be detrimental to others. For instance, research can support wildlife management and the creation of tourism jobs for some. But these activities may constrain other livelihoods in the same community. In a Namibian case study , some San complained about restrictions on hunting, small-scale farming, or keeping livestock.

3. Practical limitations: In southern Africa it is often unclear in advance whom you need to contact to discuss and sign something, and what the legal status of codes and contracts is. In our experiences, e-mails often go unanswered. Many local San do not even know—or, in some cases, care—that these instruments exist. For most, researchers' needs and aims are not a priority in their ordinary lives.

In such cases research codes and contracts mainly legitimize the researchers' and gatekeepers' role in research, but not necessarily that of the people being studied.

This is not an exhaustive list of potential issues. Others include the imposition of a red tape culture, illiteracy among participants and a lack of clear consequences if researchers behave unethically even after signing a contract.

Paper is no panacea

We are not opposed to instruments that can empower research participants, but they are not a panacea. Researchers need to scrutinize such codes' inherent and complex challenges. They also need to put collaboration at the heart of their work.

Examples of such scrutiny and collaboration already exist. Some San groups, such as the ||Ana-Djeh San Trust , have created initiatives to increase their participation in research, including community training to raise awareness about research. In such cases they like to collaborate with researchers they trust, normally because they have been in contact with them for many years already. Such trust is at the heart of good collaborations and is, we would argue, much more important than paper agreements.

Provided by The Conversation

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IMAGES

  1. Some Essential Topics in Medical Ethics (Professionalism)

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  1. 100 Medical Ethics Topics for Top Students In 2023

    Order right now May 28, 2021 100 Great Medical Ethics Topics for a Research Project One of the most important aspects of writing a great assignment in medicine is coming up with a great topic.

  2. 60 Best Medical Ethics Paper Topics To Research

    They include: Conduct extensive research before settling on a topic Identify the length of your paper Check the relevance and currency of the topic Use the help of a professional research paper writing service You can be sure that if you abide by the guidelines above, you can find more topics in medical ethics than you thought.

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    PDF Analyzing the composition of the editorial boards in high-impact medical ethics journals: a survey study The underrepresentation of scholarly works from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in academic literature is a documented concern, attributed partly to editorial biases. This trend, prevalent across vari...

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    Each month, the AMA Journal of Ethics® ( @JournalofEthics) gathers insights from physicians and other experts to explore issues in medical ethics that are highly relevant to doctors in practice and the future physicians now in medical schools, as well as the other health professionals who constitute the health care team. Ethics in Health Care

  5. Fundamentals of Medical Ethics

    Applying the ethical framework of the national commission to everyday clinical research, medical ethics scholars and IRBs later analyzed questions such as: How can informed consent be a...

  6. Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice

    The 4 main ethical principles, that is beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, are defined and explained. Informed consent, truth-telling, and confidentiality spring from the principle of autonomy, and each of them is discussed. In patient care situations, not infrequently, there are conflicts between ethical principles (especially ...

  7. The 10 most-read medical ethics articles in 2022

    Help Move Medicine Medicine doesn't stand still, and neither do we. AMA members don't just keep up with medicine—they shape its future. Join the Movement Below, find the 10 most popular AMA Journal of Ethics articles published this year. " Time for Dental Care to Be Considered Essential in US Health Care Policy "

  8. The top 10 ethical issues medical students should be taught

    Involving medical students in patient care. "Having contact with patients is essential for training medical students, and both patients and the public benefit from the integrated care that is provided by health care teams that include medical students," the AMA Code of Medical Ethics says. "However, the obligation to develop the next ...

  9. Ethics in medical research

    In 1966, Henry Beecher's article, 'Ethics and Clinical Research,' in the New England Journal of Medicine reported 22 examples of medical research that involved suboptimal ethical treatment of human subjects [3]. For nearly 40 years (1932-1972), the U.S. National Health Service conducted a research titled the 'Tuskegee Study of Untreated ...

  10. Ethics in Medical Research and Publication

    PRINCIPLES OF WRITING A SCIENTIFIC PAPER. Scientific research demands precision.[2,3,4] Scientific writing should respect this precision in the form of clarity.Unfortunately, a glance at almost any scientific journal will reveal that the above-stated ideal is often not attained in the real world of scholarly publication.[5,6] Indeed, many of the accusations by nonscientific of "obscurity ...

  11. 50 Best Medical Ethics Topics

    Discuss the principle of beneficence Should doctors be allowed to promote specific drugs? Should uninsured people in the US get access to free medical treatment? Providing medical care to a patient who refuses it. People have the right to choose assisted suicide. Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics

  12. Medical Ethics Issues: Position Papers & Resources

    The Doctor Will See You Shortly. The Ethical Significance of Time for the Patient-Physician Relationship (J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20:1057-62) Ethics and Time, Time Perception, and the Patient-Physician Relationship (ACP. March 2003) (This publication is a longer version of the position paper above.) Patient Prejudice?

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    SHARE: Medical Ethics The field of ethics studies principles of right and wrong. There is hardly an area in medicine that doesn't have an ethical aspect. For example, there are ethical issues relating to End of life care: Should a patient receive nutrition? What about advance directives and resuscitation orders? Abortion: When does life begin?

  14. Free Medical Ethics Essay Examples & Topic Ideas

    Check our 100% free medical ethics essay, research paper examples. Find inspiration and ideas Best topics Daily updates. ... It contains thousands of paper examples on a wide variety of topics, all donated by helpful students. You can use them for inspiration, an insight into a particular topic, a handy source of reference, or even just as a ...

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  17. Medical Ethics Essays: Examples, Topics, & Outlines

    PAGES 6 WORDS 1627. Medical Ethics. Ethics is a topic that is nearly as old as the human race. Ethics is sometimes referred to a branch of philosophy called moral philosophy. Ethics is often conceptualized as a code or a system meant to categorize or otherwise classify as well as recommend behavior that is right and behavior that is wrong.

  18. Medical Ethics: MedlinePlus

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  19. Ethics Topics for Research Papers: 140+ Ideas

    In simpler terms, this is the study of "ethical actions." Deontological ethics, virtue ethics, consequentialism, and Nishkam Karmayoga are some examples of normative theories. Meta-ethics: Meta-ethics studies the nature of ethics as a whole. This branch of ethics analyzes the foundations of our ethical principles and why we use them daily.

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  22. 175 Unique Bioethics Topics To Consider for Academic Paper

    Bioethics is a study of the ethical issues that arise from medicine, biology, and technology. It primarily focuses on the philosophical, legal, and social issues that exist in the fields of life sciences, biotechnology, law, public health, theology, healthcare, and medicine.

  23. Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics

    Medical Ethics Research Paper Topics: Medical ethics is a field that examines the moral and ethical dilemmas that arise in healthcare. It involves navigating complex issues related to patient autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and the allocation of limited resources. Research in medical ethics contributes to the development of ...

  24. The San people of southern Africa: Where ethics codes for researching

    The paper discussed in this article, as well as one other, analyzed problems with this code and similar instruments, and individual contracts unique to a particular piece of research.