Question 1

The "Baby Fae" case shows that
A) the establishment of research ethics boards by itself cannot prevent unethical research practices.
B) animal-to-human organ transplants are feasible.
C) parents may not have their babies' best interests in mind when they make medical decisions.
D) doctors discriminate against disabled infants.
E) euthanasia of seriously disabled infants should be considered seriously.

Accepted Answer

The "Baby Fae" case involved the transplant of a baboon heart into a human infant. The case highlighted the limitations of research ethics in regulating experimentation on humans and the need for greater oversight. The baby's parents agreed to the experimental procedure, indicating that parents may not always act in the best interests of their children.  The case also demonstrated the risks and ethical complexities of animal-to-human organ transplants but did not support the idea of euthanasia for disabled infants.

Question 2

Which of the following statements is true?
A) The AMA first adopted a code of ethics in 1970.
B) The public responded with horror to news of Dr. Sims' experiments on slave women.
C) The Nazi philosophy was grounded in part in eugenics.
D) The eugenics movement never gained a foothold in the United States.
E) From the start, most German doctors opposed the Nazis.

Accepted Answer

The Nazi philosophy indeed incorporated eugenics principles, advocating for the improvement of the human race through selective breeding and other means, which included the sterilization and extermination of those they deemed unfit.

Question 3

Hospital ethics committees
A) now exist at about 10 percent of US hospitals.
B) offered legal protection to doctors who performed abortions before it was legalized.
C) now focus primarily on the ethics of medical research.
D) have essentially replaced the use of individual ethics consultants.
E) now focus primarily on abortion decisions.

Accepted Answer

Hospital ethics committees historically offered legal protection to doctors who performed abortions before it was legalized, serving as a means to navigate the complex ethical and legal landscape surrounding abortion at the time.

Question 4

The Nuremberg Code
A) is a set of principles adopted by Nazi doctors.
B) is a set of principles regarding the ethics of human experimentation.
C) was used by the Nazis to hide news of their actions from other Germans.
D) was the first effort to break the DNA code.
E) was developed during the 1920s.

Accepted Answer

The Nuremberg Code is a set of principles regarding the ethics of human experimentation that was developed after World War II in response to the unethical medical experiments that were conducted by Nazi doctors. It outlines the basic principles that should guide research involving human subjects, including the requirement of informed consent, the need for scientific justification and the protection of participants from harm.

Question 5

In the Baby Doe case,
A) doctors performed surgery unlikely to improve the baby's quality of life.
B) parents forced the doctors to perform surgery that the doctors considered unwarranted.
C) the baby died after its parents refused to authorize potentially life-saving surgery.
D) doctors demanded federal funding for performing surgery on a retarded baby.
E) lawyers forced parents to comply with their doctors' decisions regarding their baby's care.

Accepted Answer

In the Baby Doe case, the baby died after its parents refused to authorize potentially life-saving surgery due to the baby's Down syndrome and other medical issues, sparking a national debate on medical ethics and disability rights.

Question 6

Henry Beecher,writing in 1966,stated that medical journals
A) needed to pay more attention to psychological research.
B) adequately screened out proposed articles that relied on unethical methods.
C) sometimes published articles that relied on unethical research methods.
D) routinely ignored reviewers who raised questions about research ethics.
E) needed to pay more attention to sociological research.

Accepted Answer

Beecher's statement suggests that medical journals sometimes publish unethical research, indicating that choice C is the best answer. The other choices are not mentioned in Beecher's statement.

Question 7

Is it ethical for the federal government to pay the costs of kidney dialysis for all patients,regardless of age or income,as it now does,but not to pay the costs of other illnesses? Which would be more reasonable and more feasible: extending benefits to those who have other illnesses or withdrawing them from those who need kidney dialysis?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Is it ethical for the federal government...

Question 8

The purpose of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was to investigate
A) which treatments worked best for syphilis.
B) which men were most likely to become infected with syphilis.
C) whether blacks were more likely than whites to become infected with syphilis.
D) whether some treatments for syphilis worked better with whites than with blacks.
E) the long-term effects of untreated syphilis in African-American men.

Accepted Answer

The purpose of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was to investigate the long-term effects of untreated syphilis in African-American men. The study lasted from 1932 to 1972 and involved withholding effective treatment from participants, causing harm and even death, in order to study the progression of the disease. This unethical study is now infamous for its disregard for the well-being and rights of research participants.

Question 9

Which state's health care system extended coverage to poor residents by deciding in advance that it would not fund certain health care procedures?
A) California
B) Hawaii
C) Oregon
D) Arizona
E) Alaska

Accepted Answer

Oregon made the decision to extend coverage to poor residents through its Medicaid program, but chose to limit coverage for certain procedures in order to control costs. This approach is known as "prioritization," and Oregon's system has been referenced as an example for other states.

Question 10

The effectiveness of commercial Institutional Review Boards is limited by
A) conflicts of interest.
B) insufficient federal oversight.
C) managed care regulations.
D) their reliance on career bureaucrats.
E) heavy-handed federal oversight committees.

Accepted Answer

Commercial Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) may have conflicts of interest because they receive payment for reviewing research proposals. This creates a financial incentive to approve research projects, which could influence their decision-making process. The lack of federal oversight can exacerbate this issue, as there are no standard guidelines for IRBs to follow. Managed care regulations and reliance on career bureaucrats are not directly related to the limitations of commercial IRBs, and heavy-handed federal oversight could potentially address the issue of conflicts of interest but is not currently a factor.

Question 11

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study lasted for about
A) three years.
B) five years.
C) ten years.
D) forty years.
E) seventy years.

Accepted Answer

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study lasted for approximately 40 years, from 1932 to 1972.

Question 12

During the 1960s,hospital selection committees
A) typically decided who would receive kidney dialysis based solely on medical criteria.
B) typically decided who would receive kidney dialysis based in part on social criteria.
C) typically decided who would receive kidney dialysis based solely on age.
D) were abolished by most hospitals.
E) were declared legal, but nonetheless fell into disuse.

Accepted Answer

During the 1960s, hospital selection committees for kidney dialysis often considered social criteria such as the patient's occupation, race, and marital status alongside medical criteria. This practice led to controversy and protests, which eventually resulted in the development of a more objective and fairer system for allocating dialysis treatment.

Question 13

Why should sociologists concern themselves with bioethical issues? Why should bioethicists study sociology?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why should sociologists concern themselves with bioethical...

Question 14

Under the Nazi government,
A) doctors sterilized persons considered genetically inferior.
B) the marriage of persons with certain diseases was prohibited.
C) doctors supervised the killings of state mental hospital patients.
D) doctors decided which concentration camp inmates would be killed immediately.
E) all of the above

Accepted Answer

All of the above are true statements about the actions taken by doctors under the Nazi government. Doctors played a key role in enforcing the policies of the regime, which included eugenics programs to eliminate those deemed genetically inferior, forced sterilization, and the mass killing of persons with disabilities and mental illness. Doctors were also responsible for conducting medical experiments on concentration camp inmates and determining who would be sent to the gas chambers.

Question 15

Researchers for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study
A) purposely infected black men with syphilis.
B) enlisted the support of local doctors to ensure that their subjects would not receive treatment for syphilis.
C) received no government funding for their work.
D) were forced to stop the study after five years.
E) followed the guidelines laid out in established codes of research ethics.

Accepted Answer

The researchers enlisted the support of local doctors to deny treatment for syphilis to their subjects, which was a major violation of research ethics. The study lasted for 40 years before it was finally uncovered and halted. The study led to significant changes in research ethics and protections for human subjects in the United States.

Question 16

Researchers in the Willowbrook study obtained
A) fully voluntary consent from the parents of their subjects.
B) fully informed consent from the parents of their subjects.
C) consent from the parents of their subjects, but that consent was neither informed nor voluntary.
D) no consent of any sort from the parents of their subjects.
E) consent from their subjects directly.

Accepted Answer

The Willowbrook study enrolled children with intellectual disabilities who were housed at the Willowbrook State School. The parents were informed that their children would be enrolled in a hepatitis study, but the consent was not fully informed because the parents were not made aware of the risks, and it was not fully voluntary because the parents may have felt pressured to enroll their children due to the limited options for institutionalized children with disabilities. The study has been widely criticized for this lack of ethical conduct in securing informed consent.

Question 17

Is "cosmetic pharmacology" ethical? Does the fact that it is only available to some individuals make it any more or less ethical? Could cosmetic pharmacology eventually increase social inequality?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Is "cosmetic pharmacology" ethical? Does the fact...

Question 18

In the study conducted at the Willowbrook State School,doctors
A) purposely infected children with hepatitis.
B) treated children who had hepatitis.
C) intervened to improve the horrendous conditions in which children were living.
D) cut short their experiment once they realized hepatitis could be cured with new drugs.
E) found a cure for hepatitis through unethical methods.

Accepted Answer

In the study conducted at the Willowbrook State School, doctors purposely infected children with hepatitis in order to study the disease and explore potential treatments. This was considered unethical and controversial.

Question 19

The modern bioethics movement developed in the
A) 1920s.
B) 1930s.
C) 1940s.
D) 1960s.
E) 1990s.

Accepted Answer

The modern bioethics movement developed in the 1960s, sparked by biomedical advancements such as organ transplantation and research ethics violations like the Tuskegee syphilis study. This led to the formation of the first bioethics committees and the establishment of bioethics as a field of study.

Question 20

"Cosmetic psychopharmacology" refers to
A) the use of drugs to give individuals advantages over others.
B) the continued use of drugs that have been proven ineffective.
C) the use of non-prescription drugs by patients.
D) the use of drugs by individuals disfigured by burns.
E) the use of drugs by the "genetic underclass."

Accepted Answer

Cosmetic psychopharmacology refers to the use of drugs to enhance or improve various cognitive and emotional functions, such as memory, attention, mood, and creativity, in individuals who are otherwise healthy and do not have any diagnosed mental disorders. This has been a controversial topic because some people argue that it gives an unfair advantage to those who can afford such drugs and creates an unequal society.

Quiz 13: Issues in Bioethics

The "Baby Fae" case shows that

Which of the following statements is true?

Hospital ethics committees

The Nuremberg Code

In the Baby Doe case,

Henry Beecher,writing in 1966,stated that medical journals

The purpose of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was to investigate

Which state's health care system extended coverage to poor residents by deciding in advance that it would not fund certain health care procedures?

The effectiveness of commercial Institutional Review Boards is limited by

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study lasted for about

During the 1960s,hospital selection committees

Why should sociologists concern themselves with bioethical issues? Why should bioethicists study sociology?

Under the Nazi government,

Researchers for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Researchers in the Willowbrook study obtained

Is "cosmetic pharmacology" ethical? Does the fact that it is only available to some individuals make it any more or less ethical? Could cosmetic pharmacology eventually increase social inequality?

In the study conducted at the Willowbrook State School,doctors

The modern bioethics movement developed in the

"Cosmetic psychopharmacology" refers to