Research

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Center faculty have a long tradition of conducting interdisciplinary empirical research on issues in health law and bioethics, a tradition that antedates the Center by more than a decade. Although empirical research is a major focus of the Center's activities, Center faculty also engage in conceptual research in bioethics and health law.

One of the Center's functions is to foster collaboration between Center faculty and clinical investigators outside the Center in empirical research in bioethics and health law. Efforts are directed at identifying important legal and ethical issues arising from the provision of medical care and from the conduct of clinical research, and at devising appropriate methods to study these issues. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's extensive clinical facilities provide Center faculty with ample opportunities to analyze relevant case records, conduct interviews of patients and healthcare professionals, and to directly observe clinician-patient interactions. The Center for Bioethics and Health Law also participates in collaborative studies with other universities and institutions.

• The effectiveness of required request laws and policies for organ and tissue donation
• The ethical issues surrounding the recruitment of patient to cancer chemotherapy clinical trials
• The quality of nursing care provided to patients with AIDS
• Doctor-patient communication regarding advance directives
• Doctor-family communication in an intensive care unit
• The ability of patients with Alzheimer's Disease to understand their diagnosis
• Innovative ways to aid cancer patients in making decisions about treatment
• The use of coercion in the management of psychiatric patients
• The comparison of ethical issues in engineering with medical ethics issues
• The effect of Advance Directives on location of death and health care use at the end of life among the oldest old
• The quality of life of nursing home residents using a measure that incorporates dignity and autonomy
• The understanding that clinical research subjects have of the studies they are involved in