title: Two basic ethical problems of incidental findings in population-based, non-intervening magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research.
abstract: Population-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) generates many beneficial consequences for future generations of patients. But there are also some unintended implications for present patients and research subjects. The most important of these implications is the occurrence of incidental findings. In what follows, I will explicate two basic ethical problems concerning incidental findings. I will first argue that the main cause of these two problems lies in the conflicted nature of the medical researcher's role. I will then clarify the two problems, which involves appealing to two basic ethical requirements. The first problem originates from specific empirical conditions of epidemiological MRI research, which indicate shortcomings in the process of obtaining informed consent. The second problem is due to a conflict between obligations of beneficence for the research subjects and the researcher's duty to produce valid and generalizable study results. Finally, I will develop some preliminary perspectives for the solution of these problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. martin.hoffmann@uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000941:ethics*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D007258:Informed Consent; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000941:ethics*