Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Literature review on pancreatic cancer
Literature review on pancreatic cancer
Literature review on pancreatic cancer
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Literature review on pancreatic cancer
Ethical Issues Concerning Human Research Subjects in Phase I Cancer related Clinical trials
Personal History
What are clinical trials and how are they brought about?
Personal History
On Mothers Day, May 9, 1999, my mother, Deborah Ann Hall was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I spent the majority of my day in a church, hoping and praying for some new and improved drug to come about for my mother. I thought, “anything is possible, anything could happen and that she could survive. New drugs and treatments are developed all the time. There is surely something for her.” My father and I began our research on-line that night and all my hope began to fade. There was little known about pancreatic cancer at the time. Researchers and oncologists could not put their fingers on any successful treatment for this type of cancer. My mother was given a year to live.
After a couple months of the regular, commonly used dosage treatments for pancreatic cancer, there were no results indicating her tumors were shrinking or even that they had stopped growing. They still grew, but basically at a slower rate. It was at this point that my mother’s doctor suggested applying for a clinical trial.
The “clinical trial family meeting” was at my dinner table at my family home in Simi Valley, California. We sat my withered, lifeless, 44 year old mother down. My older brother sat at one end, my father at the other, I, across from her. We asked her and explained to her all of the possibilities involved with clinical trials. She was of course already aware of the many symptoms involved with chemotherapy, however we had to make it clear to her that there was a high possibility she would receive treatments that provide little or no treatment. Additionally she might receive treatments that her body cannot handle and there may be side effects previously unknown.
It was at this point my mind cleared. I looked up at my mother, a woman who knew her time on earth was coming to an end and thought, “Who really holds the decision making here? Would she choose to receive this treatment if we were not here, begging her to stay alive? Is it worth the pain and torture?
Third world countries and underdeveloped nations have become the new proverbial Petri dish of experimentation and offer particular conditions which researchers would never be able to find in their home countries. This only serves to highlight the problem that inherently faces all research studies, the ethical debate in regards to the protection and rights of their subjects. Is it feasible to expect the same standards to apply in certain countries where an economical imbalance between what is possible and what is not can be the largest hurdle to overcome? These are key issues examined in the New England Journal of Medicine by author Marcia Angell, M.D., and co-authors Harold Varmus, M.D. and David Satcher, M.D. in their respective articles that consider the ethical standards that should prevail in such circumstances. Should researchers be upheld to universal standards, or are the standards more applicable in a “local” sense, where the conditions and the constraints of the location provide the context for how the principles should be applied?
Pancreatic cancer has become a taboo topic that many people are afraid to speak out about. It looms over families like a dark cloud, and manages to destroy people in a scarily short amount of time.
Can patients with Alzheimer’s disease participate in clinical research? Theoretically, two radically opposite views regarding this issue can be posited. The first one, which is rather “conservative” could, in principle, argue that because of pervasive cognitive impairments AD patients are vulnerable and not capable of giving informed consent with a similar degree of responsibility as that of healthy individuals. When a surrogate’s decision is required for participation in research, this decision can never be equivalent with the actual patient’s decision, since no one can know exactly what the patient desires. This generates important issues concerning the participation of these patients in research especially under the light of the ethical principle of autonomy. There are a number of cases when this position is relevant: research involving health risks for the patient, minimal benefits compared with the risks, or the use of placebo.
Through reading the essay-interview, "The Long Goodbye" by Sam Mowe, you become exposed to Katy Butler 's view on medical care and how she feels the decision-making process of end of life events should occur. Katy has experienced the death of her parents in two very different manners and used those struggles to explain her views. She believes that many people are kept alive past the point that they can live a meaningful life. Katy also expresses her opinion that palliative care is a necessity in these end of life situations so that more appropriate decisions can occur when death is near. This article also touches on how Katy Butler feels that with there being so much money in health care, personal care takes a back seat
Though there are several patients featured, the story centers around Cody Curtis, a woman who was diagnosed with liver cancer. At 56, she is a beautiful woman who doesn’t appear to be sick. She seems healthy and happy. However she is in constant pain and is suffering greatly. She is given a diagnosis of only six months left to live and sets a date to choose to die. She has complete control over when she will die. She can make peace with those around her and complete her life before she dies. She says that death with dignity won’t be easy, but it would be easier than the alternatives. However, she outlives her diagnosis and her quality of life continues to improve. When things take a turn for the worst, she decides to end her
In Marcia Angell’s article, “The Ethics of Clinical Research in the Third World,” she strongly argues the use of clinical placebo-controlled trials done in developing countries are unethical if an effective treatment already exists. Angell believes studies that compare potential new treatment with a placebo controlled group is ineffective and unnecessary. All research studies should offer the best standard of care and give participants the most beneficial outcome and treatment possible. The main priority of a study is not the goals of the research itself, but the well-being of the participants. Angell uses many sources to defend her argument, such as WHO.
Just as we witness life, we must witness death. It is neither defeat nor failure, but a normal process in life. It is always devastating for the patients and their family members to be given a diagnosis of terminal illness, with the feeling of hopelessness as there is nothing more that can be done. It’s not totally true! No matter how big or small the intervention is, there is always something that can be done. And oftenly, it is the little things that make a huge difference to the patients and their family
Envision that you're laying in a hospital bed hooked up to numerous machines knowing that your life is ending. Nurses and doctors come in often to check in on you, yet they know nothing they will do can keep you alive. You’re tired and feeling the effects of the many drugs you’ve been put on to control the pain, breathing is hard and you don’t enjoy food like you used to.Doctors have told you there is no chance of survival and you will die very soon. The only thing that matters now is when you will die. You have said goodbye to your family and friends and have come to terms with the harsh reality. If you had the chance to choose how your life would end you could do it now. Yet you can’t. This is because in the place you live, physician assisted
Twice a day, an email full of support, encouragement, and information arrives in the inboxes of the 370 members of the Long-term Cancer Survivors mailing list. The topic of discussion is often the “late effects” of cancer treatment.
Ethics refers to the values and customs of a community at a particular point in time. At present, the term ethics is guided by the moral principles that guide our everyday actions. These moral principles guide the researcher into deciding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The foundation of medical ethics is governed by two philosophical frameworks that are deontology, and utilitarianism. However ultimately the ethics committees need to balance the risks, and benefits for the participants and the community associated with the particular research proposal. This balance is quite important as the well being of participants is at risk.7
The delivery of healthcare mandates a lot of difficult decision making for healthcare providers as well as patients. For patients, much of the responsibility is left to them especially when serious health problems occur. This responsibility deals with what treatments could be accepted, what treatments could be continued, and what treatments could be stopped. Overall, it considers what route should be taken in regards to the health interests of the patient. However, there are circumstances in which patients cannot decide for themselves or communicate what they want in terms of their healthcare. This is where the ethical issue concerning who should be responsible for making these important healthcare decisions occur if a patient was to be in this sort of situation. Healthcare providers can play a role in the healthcare decision making as their duty is to act in the best interest of the patient.
A major ethical concern that has been under speculation for many of years is focused around animal ethics, and whether or not certain animal practices are just or inhuman. There are many questions that focus around fundamental issues concerning the moral status of animals. It is critical to understand the difference between a concern for animal welfare and a concern for animal rights. A current issue that is important to understand and analyze is animal experimentation, and although many consider it to be an unethical practice, there are many pros and cons to the controversial topic. Although animal experimentation has been very beneficial medically, the argument can be made that using animals to experiment is not always necessary.
The history of medical research in the twentieth century provides abundant evidence which shows how easy it is to exploit individuals, especially the sick, the weak, and the vulnerable, when the only moral guide for science is a naive utilitarian dedication to the greatest good for the greatest number. Locally administered internal review boards were thought to be a solution to the need for ethical safeguards to protect the human guinea pig. However, with problems surrounding informed consent, the differentiation between experimentation and treatment, and the new advances within medicine, internal review boards were found to be inadequate for the job. This led to the establishment of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission by President Bill Clinton in the hopes of setting clear ethical standards for human research.
Ethics is the study of moral values and the principles we use to evaluate actions. Ethical concerns can sometimes stand as a barrier to the development of the arts and the natural sciences. They hinder the process of scientific research and the production of art, preventing us from arriving at knowledge. This raises the knowledge issues of: To what extent do moral values confine the production of knowledge in the arts, and to what extent are the ways of achieving scientific development limited due to ethical concerns? The two main ways of knowing used to produce ethical judgements are reason, the power of the mind to form judgements logically , and emotion, our instinctive feelings . I will explore their applications in various ethical controversies in science and arts as well as the implications of morals in these two areas of knowledge.
Like far too many others, cancer has posed as the greatest hurdle in my life. When I was twelve years old, my grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a rare and largely incurable form of cancer that proves to be immensely aggressive to the body of which it takes over. As fortunate as I was to live just down the road from my grandparents’ farm, I