HHBe Grand Rounds: Embodied Prosthetics: Ethics and Traumatization in Research

About

As we develop prosthetic devices that become seamlessly integrated into an individualʼs embodiment, new ethical considerations need to be addressed during research and later dissemination. These include issues of retraumatization, limitations on property rights, obligations for emotional support, and culpability for actions.

Paul Ford, PhD, is the director of the Neuroethics Program at The Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute. He has been a clinical ethicist for 25 years, having participated in more than 2,500 consultations during that time. He currently focuses on clinical and research ethics challenges related to neuroscience, including clinical areas such as neurology, psychiatry, neurosurgery, sleep, and psychology. He has authorship on more than 140 publications, including editing two volumes of Complex Ethics Consultations: Cases That Haunt Us. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Humanities, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Walla Walla University (in Walla Walla, Washington). He subsequently received a PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University and an ethics fellowship in Organ Transplantation ethics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He currently serves as an ethicist on the single DSMB for all intramural projects at the NINDS. He is a qualitative researcher with experience on numerous funded projects. He has presented to many professionals, including the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (2014). He regularly provides reviews for grants through both the NIH and CDMRP.