Hui Jin Toh, Hui Yun Chan, Thomas Ploug, Søren Holm, Tamra Lysaght
{"title":"Attitudes Towards the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: A Conjoint Analysis Survey in Singapore","authors":"Hui Jin Toh, Hui Yun Chan, Thomas Ploug, Søren Holm, Tamra Lysaght","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00380-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00380-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Novel artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used as a clinical decision support tool in healthcare. Despite AI’s growing use and improved quality in clinical decision-making, questions persist about potential harms and the lack of transparency in their algorithms. Implementation of AI technologies in healthcare must align with local norms and ethical standards if the purported benefits are to be achieved in specific contexts. Using choice-based conjoint analysis, we examined how Singaporeans evaluate different principles related to AI decision-making in healthcare. Six attributes were included: decision type, severity, explainability, quality, responsibility, and discrimination. Among 596 respondents, 51% reported fear that AI would unintentionally harm humans, while 87% feared increased surveillance. Responsibility had the highest relative importance (31.5%) for AI use in healthcare, followed by explainability (27.7%) and discrimination (15.9%). The most valued attribute levels were AI recommendations being as explainable as doctors’, doctors retaining responsibility for treatment decisions, and AI systems being tested for discrimination. Our respondents showed higher levels of trust, hope, and fear toward AI, with a stronger preference for explainability over doctor responsibility. While having AI outperform doctors in generating clinical suggestions is desirable, principles such as explainability, human oversight, and fairness are more important for the people whose lives AI will impact.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 2","pages":"371 - 390"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41649-025-00380-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147661887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Harms of Family-Oriented Informed Consent in Clinical Practice in Two Megacities in Northern China: a Sociological and Ethical Study","authors":"Jing-Ru Li, Simon Walker, Jing-Bao Nie","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00373-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00373-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In clinical practice in China, a family-oriented approach to informed consent is widely used. Under this approach, families may control whether patients are provided with information and make medical decisions for the patient without asking what they would want. One of the main justifications is its purported benefits for patients. Recent studies have begun to expose ways in which this approach may be more harmful than beneficial to patients. Integrating empirical investigation with normative analysis, this study examines the experienced and perceived benefits and harms of family-oriented informed consent by Chinese patients, family caregivers, and healthcare professionals from two megacities. Semi-structured and in-depth interviews were undertaken with 13 patients, 14 family caregivers, and 9 medical professionals in Tianjin and Beijing, two megacities in northern China. The findings of these interviews were thematically analysed. When taking the perspective of a caregiver, most of the participants across the three groups described the family-oriented approach as more beneficial to patients. However, when thinking of themselves as the patient, most participants believed that it would be better for them if they were provided with information and given an opportunity to decide. The interviews revealed some significant harms of family-orientated informed consent, such as delay in treatment, psychological abandonment, and suppression of self-management. This study challenges the widespread assumptions about the benefits of family-oriented informed consent. Some of the harms of this approach are unveiled and discussed. Two opposing attitudes toward this approach to informed consent, derived from the contrasting views of family members and patients, uncover the potential flaws in the beneficence-based justification for this practice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 3","pages":"611 - 635"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13350762/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148425195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Aruna to Abhaya: 50 Years of Silence in Protecting Healthcare Professionals","authors":"Shipra Singh, Nitin B. Raut, Alka A. Subramanyam","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00392-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00392-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 3","pages":"515 - 519"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148425185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Mental Health Care: Policy Directions in South Korea’s Mental Health Welfare Act","authors":"Yuri Lee","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00371-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00371-3","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Act on the Improvement of Mental Health and the Support for Welfare Services for Mental Patients (2017) marks a significant reform in South Korea’s mental health system. This study reviews the legal amendments from 2016 to 2023, alongside the mental health policies and programs published in the Health and Welfare White Paper during the same period. The focus is on the ethical challenges and future directions in mental health care, analyzed through the lens of Beauchamp and Childress’ four principles of biomedical ethics—autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. In conducting this study, we performed a focused document analysis of legislative amendments and policy reports published between 2016 and 2023. We selected and reviewed the Health and Welfare White Papers and the official amendments to the Mental Health Welfare Act according to predefined inclusion criteria, focusing on relevance to mental health governance and ethical considerations. This paper evaluates how key provisions of the Act address involuntary admission, patient autonomy, the expansion of services, and the integration of mental health care into broader welfare systems. Moreover, by incorporating public health ethics concepts such as equity, solidarity, and the common good, this study highlights the importance of balancing individual rights with broader societal needs—especially during public health crises—to ensure comprehensive and inclusive mental health governance. Additionally, it proposes future policy directions to enhance patient autonomy, maximize well-being, and ensure equitable access to services, particularly for vulnerable populations such as the elderly and low-income groups. Key recommendations include developing informed consent protocols, expanding telemedicine and community-based care, and addressing digital health equity. This paper contributes to ongoing discussions on mental health reform and bioethics, emphasizing the importance of equitable mental health care as a fundamental component of social justice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 2","pages":"279 - 297"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147661892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Hope in Improving the Physician–Patient Relationship: A Comparative Study of the Persian Medicine Ethical Viewpoint with Modern Medical Ethics","authors":"Mohsen-Keyhan Soltani, Mohsen Naseri, Jamal Shams, Farzaneh Ghaffari, Majid Taheri, Fatemeh Alijaniha, Seyedeh Fatemeh Jafari","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00374-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00374-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Despite the role of hope in disease recovery, it is not considered a component of the physician–patient relationship in modern medical literature. However, Persian medicine (PM) believes that hope should always be inspired. We explored this issue by comparing the PM opinions with those of modern medical ethics (MME). Using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on historical library evidence, we investigated the ideas of two famous Persian thinkers. After classifying the data on the areas related to the physician–patient relationship in PM and MME, the role of “hope-giving” was compared with four principles of biomedical ethics. We found that the physician’s obligations to the patient were similar in the two perspectives. The only difference was the emphasis of the sages on “always giving hope to the patient,” which did not seem to follow the principle of truth-telling in MME. An in-depth analysis of the concept in both perspectives resolved this disagreement by indicating that the PM principle of “always giving hope to the patient” was in line with the four principles of MME. It is suggested that hope-giving skills should be included in the physician training system to improve the physician–patient relationship and achieve better outcomes.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 2","pages":"265 - 278"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147661890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Insights from the Coalface of Bioethics","authors":"Graeme T. Laurie","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00394-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00394-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"17 4","pages":"667 - 669"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145237024","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Navigating Structural Tensions: Australian Surrogacy Facilitators’ Understanding on Children’s Rights in Cross-Border Surrogacy","authors":"Yingyi Luo","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00364-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00364-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Within cross-border surrogacy, particularly in consumer countries, the protection of children’s human rights presents complex and significant challenges. This study examines how Australian surrogacy facilitators perceive and navigate the rights of children born through such arrangements. Despite striving to adopt child-centred practices, facilitators face structural barriers, including conflicting interests between intended parents and children, the commodification of children in surrogacy contracts, and legal ambiguities around parental relationships. These challenges create a persistent tension between the universal recognition of children as independent rights holders and the practical demands of facilitating surrogacy arrangements. The findings highlight the need for robust regulatory frameworks and clearer accountability mechanisms to ensure children’s rights are upheld. This study advances the scholarship on surrogacy and human rights and informs the ongoing review of Australian surrogacy laws, emphasizing the need for stronger protections for children in international surrogacy arrangements.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 1","pages":"135 - 156"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41649-025-00364-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Should Malaysia Widen Patient Access to Medical Records? An Ethical Analysis","authors":"Astrid Sinarti Hassan","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00359-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00359-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper examines the ethical justification for wider patient access to their own medical records, focusing on utilitarian and deontological perspectives. At present, despite acknowledging that patients have rights to their medical records in Malaysia, this access is restricted. The utilitarian approach, rooted in consequentialist theory, advocates for actions that produce the greatest benefit for most people. It emphasises that patient access to medical records can enhance patient empowerment, engagement and overall health outcomes. Despite concerns from healthcare providers about potential patient confusion and misinterpretation, empirical studies indicate that patients generally benefit from access, feeling more in control and involved in their healthcare decisions. Conversely, Kant’s deontological theory prioritises the morality of actions based on their inherent nature rather than outcomes. It supports unrestricted patient access as a moral obligation, emphasising respect for patient autonomy and truth-telling. According to this theory, withholding information from competent patients is ethically unjustifiable and infringes on their rights. Both ethical frameworks reveal significant patient benefits and challenge the traditional paternalistic approach of healthcare providers. This paper concludes that wider patient access to medical records in Malaysia is ethically justifiable and beneficial, urging legal and ethical reforms to support this practice.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 1","pages":"211 - 223"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s41649-025-00359-z.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Solones, Solo Reproduction and Vice","authors":"Anantharaman Muralidharan, Julian Savulescu","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00381-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00381-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In vitro gametogenesis (IVG) is a technology that allows the creation of gametes from stem cells. Given that IVG makes possible the production of cross-sex gametes, IVG, if successful, can, among other uses, allow a single person to solo reproduce (i.e. have children without a sperm or egg donor). This would involve using IVG to produce one cross-sex gamete and fusing that gamete with a same-sex gamete which is either artificially or naturally derived from the same person. Because solo reproduction is a highly experimental, artificial and asexual method of reproduction, it might be comparable in many ways with reproductive cloning. One of the arguments that has been made against cloning and, by extension, solo reproduction is that it expresses and encourages vices like hubris and narcissism. In this paper, we argue that the vice argument is insufficient to justify a ban on solo reproduction. This is because the mere fact that an act is vicious does not give anyone any kind of enforceable claim on us to not act viciously.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 2","pages":"471 - 487"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7618975/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Knowledge and Perceptions of Members and Staff of Ethics Committees and Investigators in China toward Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Research","authors":"Dan Liu, Zhou Jiyin","doi":"10.1007/s41649-025-00361-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s41649-025-00361-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This survey analyzes the knowledge and perceptions of members and staff of ethics committee and investigators toward conflicts of interest in clinical research. This cross-sectional survey in China included 324 respondents from November to December 2022. The 12-item questionnaire estimated the knowledge of respondents on conflicts of interest and correct answers were given by at least 47%. According to perception scores, most respondents (88%) believed that strengthening conflicts of interest management was necessary, such as through national government, institutional regulation, ethics training, avoidance systems, timely reporting, the declaration and management of nonfinancial conflicts of interest, and the assessment of relevant conflicts of interest for the chief reviewer. However, less believed it was necessary to establish a conflicts of interest committee in institutions (74.1%), to enroll more members from other institutions (61.4%), and to avoid appointing a scientific research department leader as the chairperson of ethics committee (72.5%). Technical title and ethics training both significantly affected median knowledge scores (<i>P</i> < 0.05). Further, technical title and ethics training also had an obvious influence on the average perception score (<i>P</i> < 0.05). These findings are critical for enhancing conflicts of interest management in clinical research in China.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":44520,"journal":{"name":"Asian Bioethics Review","volume":"18 1","pages":"33 - 51"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}