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Semin Neurol 2018; 38(05): 495-496
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1673410
Preface
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Ethics in Neurology

Ariane Lewis
1   Department of Neurology, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York University, New York
2   Department of Neurosurgery, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York University, New York
,
James L. Bernat
3   Department of Neurology and Medicine (Active Emeritus), Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
15 October 2018 (online)

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Ariane Lewis, MD
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James L. Bernat, MD

This issue of Seminars in Neurology is dedicated to clinical, research, and professional ethics topics in neurology. The reviews explore the application of the core principles of ethics (beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice) to neurologists and patients with neurological diseases. They are written by neurologists, neuroscientists, neuroethicists, and lawyers with an interest in neurology. All of the topics were selected with the general neurologist in mind.

The issue begins with a discussion of methods to incorporate education about medical ethics into neurology residency programs. The chapters that follow focus on specific disease categories, testing methodologies, and interventions that are particularly ethically contentious at present, including neurogenetic testing, vascular neurology, and physician-hastened death for patients with neurodegenerative or neuromuscular disorders. We then focus on ethical issues in obtaining assent and consent for patients with neurological disorders. In the subsequent chapters, we address methods to assess patients with disorders of consciousness, respond to requests for futile treatment, provide neuropalliative care, and respond to contentious aspects of determination of brain death. We culminate this issue with reviews on the compassionate use of investigational drugs for patients with neurological disorders and the management of conflicts of interest between neurologists and the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

The senior editor first collected a group of articles on ethical topics in neurology in March 1984 for an early edition of Seminars in Neurology. The growth of interest in ethical issues among neurologists since then has been heartening as has the progress in achieving consensus on several ethical dilemmas in neurology. Nevertheless, emerging technologies continue to challenge us by creating new questions.

We hope that you will find these reviews informative, provocative, and relevant.