Reengineering Biomedical Translational Research with Engineering Ethics

It is widely accepted that translational research practitioners need to acquire special skills and knowledge that will enable them to anticipate, analyze, and manage a range of ethical issues. While there is a small but growing literature that addresses the ethics of translational research, there is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science and engineering ethics 2015-08, Vol.21 (4), p.1019-1031
Main Authors: Sunderland, Mary E., Nayak, Rahul Uday
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioengineering - ethics
Bioethics
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Communities
Delivery of Health Care - ethics
Education
Engineering
Ethics
Ethics, Medical
Ethics, Professional
Health
Health Occupations - ethics
Humans
Knowledge
Medicine/Public Health
Morals
Original Paper
Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Professional ethics
Reengineering
Science - ethics
Skills
Social Norms
Social Responsibility
Technology - ethics
Translational Medical Research
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Summary:It is widely accepted that translational research practitioners need to acquire special skills and knowledge that will enable them to anticipate, analyze, and manage a range of ethical issues. While there is a small but growing literature that addresses the ethics of translational research, there is a dearth of scholarship regarding how this might apply to engineers. In this paper we examine engineers as key translators and argue that they are well positioned to ask transformative ethical questions. Asking engineers to both broaden and deepen their consideration of ethics in their work, however, requires a shift in the way ethics is often portrayed and perceived in science and engineering communities. Rather than interpreting ethics as a roadblock to the success of translational research, we suggest that engineers should be encouraged to ask questions about the socio-ethical dimensions of their work. This requires expanding the conceptual framework of engineering beyond its traditional focus on “how” and “what” questions to also include “why” and “who” questions to facilitate the gathering of normative, socially-situated information. Empowering engineers to ask “why” and “who” questions should spur the development of technologies and practices that contribute to improving health outcomes.
ISSN:1353-3452
1471-5546
DOI:10.1007/s11948-014-9567-3