{"title":"\"A Picture Paints a Thousand Words\"-A Systematic Review of the Ethical Issues of Prenatal Ultrasound.","authors":"M Favaretto, M Rost","doi":"10.1007/s11673-024-10360-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prenatal ultrasound is a non-invasive diagnostic examination. Despite the recognized diagnostic value, this technology raises complex ethical questions. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis that coherently maps the ethical challenges raised by prenatal ultrasound examination, both 2D and 3D. We performed a systematic literature review. Six databases were systematically searched. The results highlight how concerns related to beneficence, informed consent, and autonomy are mainly related to routine use of prenatal ultrasound in the clinical context, while considerations linked to overmedicalization of pregnancy, discrimination, and fetal ontology were often reported in relation to the impact ultrasound is having on medicine and society. Ethical issues in the context of pre-abortion ultrasound, obstetric practices in low-income settings, and keepsake ultrasound imaging were also greatly discussed. Since prenatal ultrasound practices critically impact pregnant people's autonomy and their role within pregnancy, we conclude that information providing strategies should be developed to appropriately inform pregnant people about the nature, purpose, risks, and choices revolving around prenatal ultrasound. In addition, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the social and clinical dimensions of prenatal ultrasound, future research should focus on examining if and how such dimensions should be reconciled.</p>","PeriodicalId":50252,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Bioethical Inquiry","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Bioethical Inquiry","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-024-10360-0","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ETHICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Prenatal ultrasound is a non-invasive diagnostic examination. Despite the recognized diagnostic value, this technology raises complex ethical questions. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis that coherently maps the ethical challenges raised by prenatal ultrasound examination, both 2D and 3D. We performed a systematic literature review. Six databases were systematically searched. The results highlight how concerns related to beneficence, informed consent, and autonomy are mainly related to routine use of prenatal ultrasound in the clinical context, while considerations linked to overmedicalization of pregnancy, discrimination, and fetal ontology were often reported in relation to the impact ultrasound is having on medicine and society. Ethical issues in the context of pre-abortion ultrasound, obstetric practices in low-income settings, and keepsake ultrasound imaging were also greatly discussed. Since prenatal ultrasound practices critically impact pregnant people's autonomy and their role within pregnancy, we conclude that information providing strategies should be developed to appropriately inform pregnant people about the nature, purpose, risks, and choices revolving around prenatal ultrasound. In addition, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate the social and clinical dimensions of prenatal ultrasound, future research should focus on examining if and how such dimensions should be reconciled.
期刊介绍:
The JBI welcomes both reports of empirical research and articles that increase theoretical understanding of medicine and health care, the health professions and the biological sciences. The JBI is also open to critical reflections on medicine and conventional bioethics, the nature of health, illness and disability, the sources of ethics, the nature of ethical communities, and possible implications of new developments in science and technology for social and cultural life and human identity. We welcome contributions from perspectives that are less commonly published in existing journals in the field and reports of empirical research studies using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
The JBI accepts contributions from authors working in or across disciplines including – but not limited to – the following:
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