Ethical Issues Surrounding the AbioCor Artificial Replacement Heart

Abstract
Artificial heart implantation, like all cutting edge medical technologies, implicates a number of complicated legal, social, and ethical issues. Since the most recent AbioCor artificial heart was implanted, new issues have arisen as a result of a lawsuit filed by a patient's widow alleging that she and her husband were not adequately informed of the risks and consequences of this experimental procedure and therefore were not able to provide informed consent. This article will review new developments in the ethical discussion regarding the AbioCor artificial since publication of an earlier article in which several of these issues were initially explored. The two primary bioethical categories addressed in this discussion are clinical research ethics and distributional ethics. Within these categories, questions and concerns that have emerged as a result of the Phase I/II research studies on artificial heart implantation will be examined in light of the latest developments involving the fifth recipient of the AbioCor artificial heart. Discussions regarding the appropriateness of experimental devices need to include not only the highest standards of protection of individual rights but also address the social justice issues raised by the limited resources currently available and assigned to improving health and well-being.

Key words
Ethical issues, artificial replacement heart, AbioCor, phase I/II research studies, informed consent, lawsuit

Bibliografía del artículo

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