The Research On Ethical Issues Of Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep brain stimulation is an invasive neurosurgery which brings new hope for treatment to some patients with neurological diseases.The techniques are in a state of rapid development at home and abroad,but a series of ethical problems have also arisen from this.Compared with foreign countries,there are few studies on the ethical issues of deep brain stimulation in China,while there are some achievements in the study of this issue abroad.The article mainly analyzes and summarizes the research on ethical issues of deep brain stimulation in foreign countries,summarizes and refines the ethical issues of deep brain stimulation,and presents my own opinions on the ethical issues,providing an ethical analytical framework for the development of deep brain stimulation in China.The article mainly explores the development status,development prospects of deep brain stimulation,and analyze the technical principles and indications of it,which focuses on the major ethical issues,including risk-benefit assessment issues,autonomy issues and moral responsibility issues.Based on the analysis,the countermeasures to solve these ethical challenges and ethical problems are put forward.Risk-benefit assessment is an ethical issue that must be considered firstly for any technology.As an emerging technology,deep brain stimulation brings good therapeutic benefits to people,but it also contains potential side effects and various risks.Patients must perform a scientific,rigorous and suitable ethical assessments on the risk-benefit ratio of deep brain stimulation before accepting deep brain stimulation.From the point of view of utility,only when the benefits of deep brain stimulation outweigh the risks can the ethical defense be obtained.Autonomy is another ethical issue brought about by deep brain stimulation.Informed consent is a necessary condition for researchers to conduct deep brain stimulation clinical trials.Patients must understand the potential benefits and possible risks of clinical trials,and the effectiveness and legitimacy of informed consent should be confirmed.Deep brain stimulation treatment may affect the patient's autonomy,resulting in patients unable to act autonomously,but the application of deep brain stimulation is reversible,so its application can obtain ethical support.The effects of deep brain stimulation on personality identity of patients under are also discussed differently in different conditions.From the perspective of dynamic conception and relationship description of personality identity,deep brain stimulation does not affect the patient's personality identity.From the perspective of the actor,the patient's personality identity will only be affected when deep brain stimulation threatens the decision-making ability of the actor.Moral responsibility is an important ethical issue brought about by deep brain stimulation therapy.In this article,the moral responsibilities are mainly divided into three categories: unethical responsibility,incomplete moral responsibility and complete moral responsibility.The government,hospitals,doctors and patients are responsible for the non-moral responsibilities when performing their duties fully,they take incomplete moral liability when performing his duties partly,and take completely moral responsibility when failing to take their duties.We must reasonably define the moral responsibility of different responsible subjects involved in deep brain stimulation and clearly define the attribution of moral responsibility.The four ethical principles of no harm principle,utility principle,respect principle and responsibility principle are ethical standards that must be followed to solve deep brain stimulation ethical issues.The society should establish deep brain stimulation organizations,conduct research registration,ensure responsible media coverage and establish social psychology support system.Researchers should conduct experimental design,qualification screening and writing standard reports.Participants should fully understand the benefits and risks of deep brain stimulation,determine the autonomous action in advance and active postoperative cooperation.As long as the society,researchers and subjects work together,the development of deep brain stimulation must be beneficial to social development and promote human happiness.