AI ethics in computational psychiatry: From the neuroscience of consciousness to the ethics of consciousness.

Methods used in artificial intelligence (AI) overlap with methods used in computational psychiatry (CP). Hence, considerations from AI ethics are also relevant to ethical discussions of CP. Ethical issues include, among others, fairness and data ownership and protection. Apart from this, morally relevant issues also include potential transformative effects of applications of AI-for instance, with respect to how we conceive of autonomy and privacy. Similarly, successful applications of CP may have transformative effects on how we categorise and classify mental disorders and mental health. Since many mental disorders go along with disturbed conscious experiences, it is desirable that successful applications of CP improve our understanding of disorders involving disruptions in conscious experience. Here, we discuss prospects and pitfalls of transformative effects that CP may have on our understanding of mental disorders. In particular, we examine the concern that even successful applications of CP may fail to take all aspects of disordered conscious experiences into account.

The Power of Place: Travel to Explore Structural Racism and Health Disparities.

PROBLEM: Dismantling structural racism is essential to achieving health equity, but there is little guidance for medical educators who wish to teach learners to recognize and confront structural racism. APPROACH: Critical consciousness provides a framework to identify and dismantle structural racism. Using a critical consciousness approach, the authors developed a novel 5-day travel experience to the American South for medical residents and faculty to explore the history and legacy of structural racism and the Civil Rights Movement. The purpose of the travel was to examine the connection between structural racism, especially anti-Black racism, and health disparities to better address health inequities within the participants' own home environment. Throughout the trip, faculty leaders applied principles of cultural humility and techniques from critical pedagogy, including recognizing the value of everyone in the room, creating cognitive disequilibrium, and promoting authentic dialogue. OUTCOMES: End-of-week surveys revealed that the trip was well received. Organizers learned important lessons related to faculty and resident dynamics, race-based affinity group meetings, and the respectful use of stories as a tool for learning. Post-trip surveys at 1, 6, and 12 months revealed 3 major themes: participants experienced (1) transformed understanding of systemic racism, (2) increased motivation and bravery to act when witnessing interpersonal and structural racism, and (3) increased practice of cultural humility. NEXT STEPS: Cultural humility and critical pedagogy can be used with travel to support learners in recognizing and confronting structural racism. The application of such techniques should be explored in local learning environments to foster commitment and action toward dismantling structural racism. In teaching structural racism, medical educators must be willing to consider new ways of teaching and learning.

Potential ethical problems with human cerebral organoids: Consciousness and moral status of future brains in a dish.

Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are an in vitro model of early neural development, aimed at modelling and understanding brain development and neurological disorders. In just a few years there has been rapid and considerable progress in the attempt to create a brain model capable of showcasing the characteristics of the human brain. There are still strong limitations to address, including the absence of vascularization which makes it difficult to feed the central layers of the organoid. Nevertheless, some important features of the nervous system have recently been observed in cerebral organoids: they manifest electrical activity (i.e. communication between neurons), are sensitive to light stimulation and are able to connect to a spinal cord by sending impulses that make a muscle contract. Recent data show that cortical organoid network development at ten months resembles some preterm babies EEG patterns. Although cerebral organoids are not close to human brains so far due to their extremely simplified structure, this state of things gives rise to ethical concerns about the creation and destructive experimental use of human cerebral organoids. Particularly, one can wonder whether a human cerebral organoid could develop some degree of consciousness and whether, under certain conditions, it could acquire its own moral status with the related rights. In this article, I discuss the conditions under which HCOs could be granted their own moral status. For this purpose, I consider the hypothesis that HCOs might develop a primitive form of consciousness and investigate the ways in which it could be detected. In light of all this, I finally point out some cautionary measures that could be introduced into research on and with human cerebral organoids.

Human cerebral organoids and consciousness: a double-edged sword.

Human cerebral organoids (HCOs) are three-dimensional in vitro cell cultures that mimic the developmental process and organization of the developing human brain. In just a few years this technique has produced brain models that are already being used to study diseases of the nervous system and to test treatments and drugs. Currently, HCOs consist of tens of millions of cells and have a size of a few millimeters. The greatest limitation to further development is due to their lack of vascularization. However, recent research has shown that human cerebral organoids can manifest the same electrical activity and connections between brain neurons and EEG patterns as those recorded in preterm babies. All this suggests that, in the future, HCOs may manifest an ability to experience basic sensations such as pain, therefore manifesting sentience, or even rudimentary forms of consciousness. This calls for consideration of whether cerebral organoids should be given a moral status and what limitations should be introduced to regulate research. In this article I focus particularly on the study of the emergence and mechanisms of human consciousness, i.e. one of the most complex scientific problems there are, by means of experiments on HCOs. This type of experiment raises relevant ethical issues and, as I will argue, should probably not be considered morally acceptable.

The Briggsian Heresy? Should Previously Expressed Wishes Determine Best Interests in Decisions Relating to Withdrawal of Clinically-Assisted Nutrition and Hydration?

This paper examines the Court of Protection decision in Briggs v Briggs. It considers whether the approach of the Court, which gave effective decisive weight to a patient's previously expressed wishes about whether he should be kept alive in a minimally conscious state, is a proper application of the 'best interests' test under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It assesses whether the Briggs approach is effectively applying a 'substituted judgement' test and considers the difficulties in ascertaining what a person's actual wishes are.

Alive inside.

This article provides an ethical analysis of the U.S. practice guideline update on disorders of consciousness. Our analysis focuses on the guideline's recommendations regarding the use of investigational neuroimaging methods to assess brain-injured patients. Complex and multifaceted ethical issues have emerged because these methods alter the clinical understanding of consciousness. We address issues of false hope, patient suffering, and cost. We argue that, in spite of these concerns, there is significant benefit to using neuroimaging to assess brain-injured patients in most cases.

If she is conscious, what is she?

What is consciousness? What is its importance and how is it to be described? The paper looks at some of the principal theories and their attempts to solve the "hard problem" of how consciousness is produced by nervous tissue, and attempts to close the "explanatory gap" between such (apparently) profoundly different things as subjective awareness and a physical brain. It ends with a tentative suggestion that, despite centuries of philosophical frustration, recent appeals to quantum physics may offer a glimmer of hope.

When No One Notices: Disorders of Consciousness and the Chronic Vegetative State.

On January 5, 2019, the Associated Press reported that a woman thought to have been in the vegetative state for over a decade gave birth at a Hacienda HealthCare facility. Until she delivered, the staff at the Phoenix center had not noticed that their patient was pregnant. The patient was also misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosis of patients with disorders of consciousness in institutional settings is more the norm than the exception. Misdiagnosis is also connected to a broad and extremely significant change in the understanding of the vegetative state-a change that the field of bioethics has not yet fully taken into account. In September 2018, the American Academy of Neurology, the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research issued a comprehensive evidence-based review on disorders of consciousness and an associated practice guideline on the care of these patients. These landmark publications update the 1994 Multi-Society Task Force Report on the Vegetative State, which subcategorized the persistent vegetative state as either persistent (once the vegetative state lasted one month) or permanent (once the vegetative state lasted three months after anoxic injury or twelve months after traumatic injury). Noting that 20 percent of patients thought to be permanently unconscious might regain some level of consciousness, the new guideline has eliminated the permanent vegetative state as a diagnostic category, replacing it with the chronic vegetative state.

La eutanasia como antídoto del suicidio / Euthanasia as an antidote to suicide / L'eutanàsia com a antídot del suïcidi

Este trabajo comienza con una reflexión sobre la conciencia de mortalidad y la forma en que el ser humano puede situarse en la antesala de su propia muerte, refiriéndose algunas de las circunstancias y motivaciones en el suicidio. Por otra parte, se hace referencia a la formulación y postura filosófica de Cioran sobre el suicidio como recurso existencial para poder afrontar la vida en mejores condiciones. De manera semejante puede considerarse la eutanasia, observándose en su relación con el suicidio que la opción legal de acogerse a ella puede suponer para ciertas personas un alejamiento del suicidio mientras que su prohibición las puede precipitar a la autodestrucción definitiva para poder escapar así del sufrimiento insufrible

This paper begins by reflecting on people's awareness of mortality and how they lie in the antechamber of their own death. It refers to several specific circumstances and motivations which lead to suicide. On the other hand, reference is made to Cioran's ideas and philosophical stance on suicide as an existential resource which enables people to face life in better conditions. Similarly, euthanasia is considered, especially bearing in mind its close relationship to suicide, and it is observed as being the legal option of achieving that aim. This, however, can imply a flight from suicide for some sufferers while its prohibition can precipitate others towards definite self-destruction so as to escape from unbearable suffering. It is contrasted by using two illustrative cases

Aquest treball comença amb una reflexió sobre la consciència de mortalitat i la forma en què l'ésser humà pot situar-se en l'avantsala de la seva pròpia mort, referint-se algunes de les circumstàncies i motivacions en el suïcidi. D'altra banda, es fa referència a la formulació i postura filosòfica de Cioran sobre el suïcidi com a recurs existencial per a poder afrontar la vida en millors condicions. De manera semblant pot considerar-se l'eutanàsia, observant-se en la seva relació amb el suïcidi que l'opció legal d'acollir-se a ella pot suposar per a certes persones un allunyament del suïcidi mentre que la seva prohibició les pot precipitar a l'autodestrucció definitiva per a poder escapar així del sofriment insofrible, tal com apareix contrastat a través de dos casos il·lustratius

Uncovering Consciousness in Unresponsive ICU Patients: Technical, Medical and Ethical Considerations.

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2019. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2019 . Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901 .

Moral Limits of Brain Organoid Research.

Brain organoid research raises ethical challenges not seen in other forms of stem cell research. Given that brain organoids partially recapitulate the development of the human brain, it is plausible that brain organoids could one day attain consciousness and perhaps even higher cognitive abilities. Brain organoid research therefore raises difficult questions about these organoids' moral status - questions that currently fall outside the scope of existing regulations and guidelines. This paper shows how these gaps can be addressed. We outline a moral framework for brain organoid research that can address the relevant ethical concerns without unduly impeding this important area of research.

Disorders of Consciousness: Ethical Issues of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognostication.

Consciousness defines our humanity more than any other biologic phenomena that a clinician might be called upon to examine, diagnose, or treat. When family comes to the bedside of a patient, they hope to find them talking, thinking, and feeling. The complexity of consciousness allows an expansive gradation of dysfunction such that we must consider numerous potential insults, possible interventions, and often an unknown likelihood of recovery. As value-laden questions are more often in the hands of surrogate decision makers, the neurologist is given the herculean task of not only diagnosing and treating alterations of consciousness but also predicting the likely course of the disease to empower surrogates to make a choice most consistent with the preferences of the patient. The degree of uncertainty in the diagnosis and prognosis demands that the clinician consider the ethics of the diagnosis, treatment, and prognostication of disorders of consciousness. Expectations of acute and chronic care, the extent of the formal neurological investigation, the potential of therapeutic trials, the self-fulfilling prophecy that can occur with prognostication, and the challenges of shared decision making are all subjects that we explore.

Constructive Disappointment and Disbelief: Building a Career in Neuroethics.

Sometimes one's greatest academic disappointments can have unexpected outcomes. This is especially true when one is trying to change career trajectories or do something that others did not take seriously. My path into neuroethics was an unexpected journey catalyzed in part by constructive disappointment and the disbelief of colleagues who thought that the work I was pursuing nearly two decades prior was a fool's errand. After all, could anyone-in his or her right mind-ever conceive of waking up a person unconscious from brain injury and getting him to speak? 1.

Not explicit but implicit memory is influenced by individual perception style.

Not only explicit but also implicit memory has considerable influence on our daily life. However, it is still unclear whether explicit and implicit memories are sensitive to individual differences. Here, we investigated how individual perception style (global or local) correlates with implicit and explicit memory. As a result, we found that not explicit but implicit memory was affected by the perception style: local perception style people more greatly used implicit memory than global perception style people. These results help us to make the new effective application adapting to individual perception style and understand some clinical symptoms such as autistic spectrum disorder. Furthermore, this finding might give us new insight of memory involving consciousness and unconsciousness as well as relationship between implicit/explicit memory and individual perception style.

Finding Patterns of Meaning: Margaret Newman's Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness.

This article presents an evaluation of Margaret Newman's theory of health as expanding consciousness, through a literature review, to determine its usefulness for nursing practice and research. The evaluation illustrates that Newman's theory is valuable for guiding various aspects of nursing practice, education, and research. However, its use had been limited to spiritual, psychological, and social aspects of nursing care and needs to be further evaluated for its significance in acute care settings. Most of the studies that use Newman's theory are from the past, with limited studies conducted in recent years, indicating the need for further research.

Need for uniqueness as a mediator of the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption in China.

Strong economic development in China has led to a surge in status consumption as a means of gaining face. In Eastern culture, people interpret uniqueness as status distinction rather than separateness or deviance. This type of uniqueness can be used to meet others' expectations and gain social approval. Thus its relationship with face consciousness and status consumption is to be expected. This study investigates 2 hypotheses: (a) Face consciousness has a positive effect on status consumption and (b) Consumer need for uniqueness mediates the relationship between face consciousness and status consumption. Two-hundred and forty-six working respondents in eastern China completed a survey. Regression analysis of the results supported both hypotheses.

Retos éticos del hallazgo de consciencia encubierta con neuroimagen en estados vegetativos / Ethical challenges of the finding of covert awareness with neuroimaging in vegetative states

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