title: Ethical guidance for the management of conflicts of interest for researchers, engineers and clinicians engaged in the development of therapeutic deep brain stimulation.
abstract: The clinical promise of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for neuropsychiatric conditions is coupled with the potential for ethical conflicts of interest because the work is so heavily reliant upon collaborations between academia, industry and the clinic. To foster transparency and public trust, we offer ethical guidance for the management of conflicts of interest in the conduct of DBS research and practice so that this nascent field can better balance competing goods and engineer new and better strategies for the amelioration of human suffering. We also hope that our ethical analysis will be of relevance to those working with other related neuroprosthetic devices, such brain-computer interfaces and neural arrays, which naturally share many of the same concerns.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Ethics, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, 435 East 70th Street, Suite 4-J, New York, NY 10021, USA. jjfins@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Joseph J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Fins
authors.forename: Thomas E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Schlaepfer
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nuttin
authors.forename: Cynthia S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Kubu
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Galert
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sturm
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Merkel
authors.forename: Helen S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mayberg
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000941:ethics*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics*; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008503:Medical Staff / Q000941:ethics*