NEONATAL EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE-OXYGENATION (ECMO) - CLINICAL-TRIALSAND THE ETHICS OF EVIDENCE

Neonatal extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a technology for the treatment of respiratory failure in newborns, is used as a case st udy to examine' statistical and ethical aspects of clinical trials and to illustrate a proposed 'ethics of evidence, an approach to medical uncertainty within the context of contemporary biomedical ethics. Disc ussion includes the twofold aim of the ethics of evidence: to clarify the role of uncertainty and scientific evidence in medical decision-ma king, and to call attention to the need to confront the irreducible na ture of uncertainty.