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Biomedical subjects

T F Ackerman

Publications and source records attributed to T F Ackerman.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1984

Patterns of primary care that create dependency.

Significant moral tension exists between attempts to address the medical problems of children in the public primary care clinic and the impact of these efforts on the self-reliance of children and families in providing for their own health care needs. We describe and demonstrate dependency-inducing practices. We discuss the moral reasons why such practices should be strictly limited, as well as the exceptional circumstances in which they are appropriate. These moral concerns suggest changes in how we provide clinic services, which we demonstrate by reference to common practices, such as providing free services, following up on missed appointments, and making arrangements for families with outside agencies. We argue that the mistakes of colonialism may be repeated unless enhancing the self-reliance of families becomes a major goal in the clinic setting.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1983

Experimentalism in bioethics research.

Basson's commentary on my proposals regarding the structure and function of research in bioethics provides a welcome opportunity for extended comparison of standard approaches with the suggestions made in 'What Bioethics Should Be.' I begin by noting a common assumption underlying our respective views. I then address points of fundamental difference, indicating why the experimental method proposed in my original essay presents a potentially more productive strategy for examining moral issues in biomedicine. In the latter respect, I certainly disagree with Basson's contention that "we are unable to test" metaethical hypotheses "against reality" (Basson, p. 185) - a proposition which seems no more defensible than the equally untenable claim that we cannot refine methods of natural science research through examination of their usefulness in advancing our understanding of the correlation of events in nature.

Bioethics↗