V. Mike et al., NEONATAL EXTRACORPOREAL MEMBRANE-OXYGENATION (ECMO) - CLINICAL-TRIALSAND THE ETHICS OF EVIDENCE, Journal of medical ethics, 19(4), 1993, pp. 212-218
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.