IRANIAN JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL LAW AND ETHICS
Year:2019 | Volume:1 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:9

Background: In production and commerce, the most powerful tool the players possess to compete with each other is advertising. The more powerful and efficient the tool is, the more serious the consequences of its improper use would be. Accordingly, advertising must be applied in accordance with relevant ethical standards and criteria. Compliance with these criteria is particularly important in medical advertising, which directly affects the lives and health of the individuals. Methods: This research has been conducted on the basis of descriptive, normative and analytical methods and its data has been collected through printed sources such as books and articles besides internet resources in English and Persian. Results: The disregard for complying with the advertising ethics and moral precepts of advertising can have many adverse effects on the society including medicalization, the formation of unreasonable and irrelevant expectations in individuals, allocation of therapeutic funds to unnecessary therapeutic needs, the tension between doctor and patient relationships and the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable groups. Conclusion: The study of various types of advertising and their consequences in society indicates the exigency in compiling and elaborating ethical guides and monitoring the adherence to conducting the guides in the field of advertising. Indeed, respect for human dignity, the necessity to consider the level of understanding and knowledge of the audience, respect for public dignity, the avoidance of unfounded claims and the sensitivity to social responsibility, are the most common and most crucial moral principles that can be introduced in advertising. Due to complexity and uncertainty of the effects of using nano-health products, the general moral principles governing medical advertising are also dominant in promoting these products, and novelty and effectiveness of nano-products can not eliminate the ethical evaluation in the advertising process of them.

Background: The purpose of the article was to explain the right of the clients in psychiatric and psychological centers to have access to their medical records. Methods: In this regard, the views of the legal systems of Iran, England, Canada and Australia in relation to the foregoing right were reviewed and compared. Results: The findings of this study indicate that this right is generally accepted in the legal systems of England, Canada and Australia. However, the right is not absolute in any of the legal systems referred to, and the disclosure of case information if prohibited by law or in case of being a serious threat to the physical and mental health of the client, is not allowed. On the other hand, in this study, in order to clarify the right of access to psychological record from the perspective of Iranian legal system, a distinction was made between two different categories of psychological records (Information provided by the authorities and therapist's diagnosis) as well as three categories of clients in psychological centers (Individuals without special mental disorder, neurotic patients and psychotic patients). Based on the categorizations and distinctions, it was found that the right of access to information in individuals without special mental disorders as well as neurotic patients is preserved in the legal system of Iran with some exceptions. Conclusion: However, national laws and regulations with respect to access of psychotic patients or their guardians to their treatment record are silent. Given the significant legal impact of certain mental illnesses, it is necessary to address this shortcoming, taking into account the patient's rights and the interests of the society.

Background: Nurses' knowledge of pharmacology is a fundamental pillar of care ethics and one of the key elements of nursing. The aim of this study was to determine the level of knowledge of pharmacology and its position in care ethics among nurses of Rajaie Heart Hospital in Tehran. Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical one. Using a stratified sampl-ing method, 230 nurses from Rajaie Heart Hospital were selected. The data collection instrument was a demographic checklist and nurses' pharmacology knowledge questionnaire. Validity and reliability of questionnaires were con-firmed. Next, statistical tests were conducted and data were analyzed through SPSS software version 18. Results: The level of nurses' knowledge in pharmacology was average among the selected group. A survey of pharmacological knowledge in different areas showed that in fields of drug mechanism, drug complications and nursing care, the knowledge of nurses was average, but the level of knowledge in the field of medicine was optimal. Comparison of pharmacology knowledge between public sector nurses and specialist nurses did not show any significant difference. Among the studied variables, participation in educational classes demonstrated a significant correlation with nurses' knowledge (p<0. 001). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study and the importance of pharmaco-logy knowledge in care ethics, it is suggested that establishing training courses for boosting nurses' knowledge be prioritized in nursing education planning.

Background: Interdependence and the processes of globalization in the world have induced complicated problems in global health. Major inequalities in health issues in the world have raised some challenges of climate change, the pro-pagation of infectious diseases, unequal distribution of health facilities, poverty and related illnesses which comprise the main focus of global justice theory. Methods: The global justice theory, which is a normative discourse about our duties and responsibilities vis-à-vis other people in the world, has been divided into different approaches to address the crises and issues discussed above. These approaches, based on their prepositions and arguments on the principles of justice, have various views on agents of justice. In this study, we will work with two problem-oriented and theoretical approaches to global justice to achieve a desirable approach to global health justice. Results: According to statist perspective to global justice, states are exclusive agents of justice while cosmopolitans hold that individuals, institutions and states are agents of justice. Conclusion: It seems that the best position is a middle, synthetic approach, which considers states, non-state actors, institutions and even individuals as the agents of justice and assigns the obligations with a varying degree. Empirical cases and recent experiences in global health confirm the intended results of such perspective.

Background: The importance of pharmaceutical industry in improving the quality of human life and the specific features of the cost structure of pharmaceutical agencies mandates proper regulation in this industry. However, the complexity of this process has made the regulation of this industry multifaceted, complex, and sometimes difficult for policymakers. This research seeks to illustrate the typical challenges and the behavioral patterns of various countries facing such issues. Methods: This research is based on the study of regulatory models in different countries. Results: The high cost of research and development of new drugs has culminated in perceiving the inescapable necessity to provide the legal context for supporting drug innovations, so that in the absence of these contexts to create a temporary monopoly in the market for a new drug agency, there will be no incentive to invest in research and development of new drugs. But the creation of monopoly will be accompanied by imposing prices higher than competitive prices with increasing dead loss and reduced social welfare. In such condition, the policy maker regulates the prices for reducing the pharmaceutical costs in both private and public sector in order to decrease the dead loss and control the legal market power of innovative pharmaceutical agencies. Conclusion: The regulation in pharmaceutical industry can be regarded as the art of establishing a balance and trade-off between these forces. American policy makers in this field have held innovation in high regards in comparison to their European, Canadian and Japanese counterparts, which has led the country to be the vanguard in pharmaceutical innovation.

Background: Following the compilation of ethical codes of midwifery in the health system of Iran, the knowledge about compliance with these codes in different groups of midwives working in the health system, both public and private, can provide an appropriate feedback on the status of compliance of such codes and in a more general attitude, undertaking implementation of professional ethics and the underlying factors can be scrutinized more rigorously. Methods: In a descriptive-analytic study based on self-reported observance of professional ethics, 70 midwives participating in continuous medical education programs at Avicenna Fertility Center completed a Likert scale researcher-designed questionnaire including 65 questions in different fields of ethics codes. Data were analyzed by SPSS software using Kendall Rank Correlation Coefficient, independent t-test and variance analysis. Results: The mean age of the participants was 44 years. 82% of the participants had a bachelor's degree and the rate of observance of professional ethics codes in this study in the range of-2 to 2 times was 0. 12± 1. 68. There was no significant relationship between observing ethical codes with educational level, income level, professional ethics training, participation in professional ethics training workshops and activities in different parts of the health system. The only significant correlation was the interest rate to midwifery with observing ethical codes in the area of providing services to the client (r=0. 257 with p=0. 048). Conclusion: It seems that self-report assessment in professional ethics is based on extrapolation of professional ethics observance by the hierarchy. Also, in the current assessment, there was no meaningful relationship between professional ethics education and knowledge with observance of midwifery ethics codes, which indicates the necessity of implementing assessments as well as more effective teaching in the field of ethics observance.

Background: The production of knowledge and technology in the field of biological sciences has raised challenges for legal protection of intellectual property rights of knowledge and technology owners. The difficulty in responding to such challenges is mostly dependent on the quiddity of the produced knowledge and the product. Can biotechnology products, which are often the result of research on human biological components, be protected by intellectual property rights? It seems that granting intellectual property rights to researchers in the field of biotechnology depends on answering such questions. Methods: The data of this paper is based on the study of the legal system of different countries and the international legal system. The authors have tried to investigate different opinions and verdicts related to intellectual property rights and their supporting evidence in various legal systems and make them a blueprint for studying the domestic legal system in Iran. Results: The findings of this study show that different countries, have recognized the intellectual property rights of the owners of knowledge in the field of biotechnology, so that human knowledge will not lag behind the new technological advances. Conclusion: The most important aspect of intellectual property in biotechnology is the focus on human inherent value and the prohibition of slavery. In addition, the focus should be on distributive justice and the return of its profits from the intellectual property of these technologies to the community.

Background: The concept of health and the right to health is one of the most important concepts in the world of thought and practice, wherein any type of defining and demarcating the concept, undoubtedly affects the health of individuals and their access to health services. Methods: This research is based on descriptive and analytical method and its data were collected from printed sources such as books, articles and internet resources in English and Persian. Results: Theories that underpin the concept of health have often targeted the issue individualisticly or collectivistically, which are not very defensible today, and the dominant approach is the integrated one accentuating individual and social aspects of the concept of health. The right to health, in which the health is the core concept, has been the subject of theoretical challenges that often address the minimal or maximum role of the state and government in facing with the right to health. Conclusion: The concept of health, like any other concept, can be defined differently in various paradigms of thinking. In "biomedical paradigm", health is not having a physical disorder. The "Biopsychosocial model" considers disease a widespread phenomenon throughout the human organism. Finally, under the "rights-based approach", the right to health is a right/claim to have access to health-related facilities, welfare, and services that are also recognized in international documents. Achieving the "highest attainable level of health" requires specific conditions and requisites. Without cultural, social, economic, and political infrastructure on the one hand, and the financial and human resources available to the state on the other, such level of health cannot be obtained.