Bioethicists Today: Results of the Views in Bioethics Survey

Abstract

Bioethicists influence practices and policies in medicine, science, and public health. However, little is known about bioethicists’ views. We recently surveyed 824 U.S. bioethicists on a wide range of ethical issues, including topics related to abortion, medical aid in dying, and resource allocation, among others. We also asked bioethicists about their demographic, religious, academic, and professional backgrounds. We find that bioethicists’ normative commitments predict their views on bioethical issues. We also find that, in important ways, bioethicists’ views do not align with those of the U.S. public: for instance, bioethicists are more likely than members of the public to think abortion is ethically permissible but are less likely to believe compensating organ donors is. Our demographic results indicate the field of bioethics is far less diverse than the U.S. population—less diverse even than other academic disciplines—suggesting far more work needs to be done to build an inclusive field.

Keywords:

• Health policy
• public health
• social science research
• professional ethics

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

LP has received grants from Apollo Academic Surveys, EA Funds, the Forethought Foundation for Global Priorities Research, and Amplify Creative Grants.

HKS has received a grant from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE 2140743.

GP has received grants from the Greenwall Foundation and personal fees from the ASCO Post outside the topic of the current manuscript.

EL has received grants from the Greenwall Foundation and the National Institute on Aging.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the above organizations and foundations.

Notes

1 Different programs display their affiliated faculty in different ways. For instance, Columbia’s MBE program has a “Faculty and Advisors” page, while Emory’s MBE program has a “Core Faculty” page.

2 Results of the pilot survey of differing incentives are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Apollo Academic Surveys and EA Funds.