Journal of Medical Ethics
August 5, 2026
JingYi Zhang, Dominic Sisti
Intravenous ketamine and intranasal esketamine have shown rapid effects in reversing suicidality and improving depressive symptoms. In countries that allow psychiatric euthanasia and/or assisted suicide (EAS), we argue that potentially effective treatments for suicidal ideation and behaviour, such as ketamine, should be required before allowing patients to access psychiatric EAS. Ketamine can...
Journal of Medical Ethics
March 10, 2026
Chiara Caporuscio
The literature on psychedelic experiences often highlights their transformative potential. This raises ethical questions about informed consent in psychedelic-assisted therapy: if the altered state of consciousness induced by psychedelic drugs can profoundly alter a person's value system in ways that are epistemically inaccessible to them beforehand, it is unclear whether their informed consent...
Journal of Medical Ethics
September 20, 2024
Vera Tesink, Thomas Douglas, Lisa Forsberg et al.
The possibility of neurotechnological interference with our brain and mind raises questions about the moral rights that would protect against the (mis)use of these technologies. One such moral right that has received recent attention is the right to mental integrity. Though the metaphysical boundaries of the mind are a matter of live debate, most defences of this moral right seem to assume an...
Journal of Medical Ethics
May 30, 2023
Scott Hoener, Aaron Wolfgang, David A. Nissan et al.
6 citations
Psychedelic treatments, particularly 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted and psilocybin-assisted therapies, have recently seen renewed interest in their clinical potential to treat various mental health conditions. Clinical trials for both MDMA-assisted and psilocybin-assisted therapies have shown to be highly efficacious for post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression....
Journal of Medical Ethics
April 12, 2023
Daniel Villiger, Manuel Trachsel
40 citations
Psychedelics are experiencing a renaissance in mental healthcare. In recent years, more and more early phase trials on psychedelic-assisted therapy have been conducted, with promising results overall. However, ethical analyses of this rediscovered form of treatment remain rare. The present paper contributes to the ethical inquiry of psychedelic-assisted therapy by analysing the ethical...
Journal of Medical Ethics
November 26, 2021
Z. Fritz
Both ethicists and lawyers accept that a provider – be it a researcher or a clinician – should provide sufficient information for a reasonable person to make an informed decision about whether they wish to go ahead with the proposed intervention or treatment. They are bound to do so both because they have an ethical responsibility to preserve the individual’s autonomous decision making, and, in...
Journal of Medical Ethics
July 12, 2021
Dana Strauss, Sara de la Salle, Jordan Sloshower et al.
70 citations
There is a growing resurgence in the study of psychedelic medicines for the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. However, certain early investigations are marred by questionable research methods, abuses against research participants, and covert Central Intelligence Agency financial involvement. The purpose of this study was to understand how and to what extent people of...
Journal of Medical Ethics
November 4, 2020
Riccardo Miceli Mcmillan
12 citations
The recent renaissance in research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is showing great promise for the treatment of many psychiatric conditions. Interestingly, therapeutic outcomes for patients undergoing these treatments are predicted by the occurrence of a mystical experience—an experience characterised in part by a sense of profound meaning. This has led to hypotheses that...
Journal of Medical Ethics
May 27, 2020
William Smith, Dominic Sisti
142 citations
Despite the fact that psychedelics were proscribed from medical research half a century ago, recent, early-phase trials on psychedelics have suggested that they bring novel benefits to patients in the treatment of several mental and substance use disorders. When beneficial, the psychedelic experience is characterized by features unlike those of other psychiatric and medical treatments. These...
Journal of Medical Ethics
September 1, 2018
Andrea Lavazza, Marcello Massimini
Organoids are three-dimensional biological structures grown in vitro from different kinds of stem cells that self-organise mimicking real organs with organ-specific cell types. Recently, researchers have managed to produce human organoids which have structural and functional properties very similar to those of different organs, such as the retina, the intestines, the kidneys, the pancreas, the...