Neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO): clinical trials and the ethics of evidence.
Neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technology for the treatment of respiratory failure in newborns, is used as a case study to examine statistical and ethical aspects of clinical trials and to illustrate a proposed 'ethics of evidence', an approach to medical uncertainty within the context of contemporary biomedical ethics. Discussion includes the twofold aim of the ethics of evidence: to clarify the role of uncertainty and scientific evidence in medical decision-making, and to call attention to the need to confront the irreducible nature of uncertainty.
Mike
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Cornell University Medical College, New York.
Krauss
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Ross
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D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D035061:Control Groups; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D015199:Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D033282:Parental Consent; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D018570:Risk Assessment; D036302:Therapeutic Human Experimentation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D035501:Uncertainty