Clinical Ethics Consultations (CEC) are an important tool for physicians in solving difficult cases. They are extremely common in North America and to a lesser extent also present in Europe. However, there is little data on this practice in Poland. We present results of a survey of 521 physicians practising in Poland concerning their opinion on CECs and related practices. We analysed the data looking at such issues as CECs’ perceived availability, use of CECs, and perceived usefulness of such support. Physicians in our study generally encounter hard ethics cases, even—surprisingly—those who do not work in hospitals. Most physicians have no CEC access, and those that do still do not employ CECs. However, physicians perceive this form of support as useful—even more so among actual users of CECs. We compared these findings with similar studies from other European countries and the North America. We point out peculiarities of our results as compared to those in other countries, with some possible explanations. We hope the results may encourage regulatory debate on the need to formally introduce CECs into the Polish healthcare system.

The paper reports results of the very first survey-based study on the prevalence, frequency and nature of ethical or other non-medical difficulties faced by Polish physicians in their everyday clinical practice. The study involved 521 physicians of various medical specialties, practicing mainly in inpatient healthcare. The study showed that the majority of Polish physicians encounter ethical and other non-medical difficulties in making clinical decisions. However, they confront such difficulties less frequently than their foreign peers. Moreover, Polish doctors indicate different circumstances as a source of the experienced problems. The difficulties most often reported relate to (i) patients (or their proxies) requests for medically non-indicated interventions; (ii) problems with communication with patients (or their proxies) due to the patients’ negative attitude, unwillingness to cooperate, or aggression; and (iii) various difficulties with obtaining informed consent. Polish physicians report difficulties associated with disagreements among care givers or scarcity of resources less frequently than doctors from other countries. The study’s findings provide support for the thesis that a significant portion of Polish physicians still follow a traditional, paternalistic, and hierarchical model of healthcare practice. Instead of promoting patient’s empowerment, engagement, and rights, they often consider these ideas as a threat to physicians’ professional authority and autonomy. The study leads to the conclusion that due to insufficient training in medical ethics, communication skills, and medical law, many Polish physicians lack the knowledge and competence necessary to adequately respond to challenges posed by modern healthcare practice.

Beebe and Buckwalter (2010) made the surprising discovery that people are more inclined to attribute knowledge when norms are violated than when they are conformed to. The epistemic side-effect effect (ESEE) is the analogue of the Knobe effect (Knobe 2003a). ESEE was replicated in a number of experiments. It was also studied under various conditions. We have carried out a meta-analysis of research on ESEE. The results suggest that ESEE is a robust finding but its magnitude is highly variable. Two study-level covariates influence its size: the subject of the knowledge attribution (agent vs third-party) and the type of norm that is violated or complied with. The effect size is not influenced, however, by the manipulation of chances, by whether the story is about a side effect or not, by language or by question phrasing. The impact of the Gettierization of the story is marginally significant.

Gry jako moralne laboratorium. Gamifikacja dylematów moralnych bezzałogowych samochodów W artykule pokażemy, jak gamifikacja schematów eksperymentalnych pozwala przedstawić w nowym świetle dylematy moralne związane z pojazdami bezzałogowymi. W pierwszej części dokonamy przeglądu kwestii związanych z wykorzystaniem gier komputerowych w badaniach eksperymentalnych. Rozważymy potencjalne pułapki czyhające na testujących intuicje etyczne z użyciem gier. Następnie omówimy pod względem obecności elementów gamifikacji zrealizowane do tej pory badania dotyczące społecznego postrzegania moralnych decyzji podejmowanych przez samochody bezzałogowe. Przedstawimy roboczą typologię gier ze względu na ich użyteczność jako narzędzi w badaniach nad różnymi typami problemów etycznych. Na tej podstawie proponujemy rozwiązania, jak unikać pułapek opisywanych w części pierwszej. Przedstawiamy trzy podstawowe podejścia do implementacji "modułu moralnego". Twierdzimy, że są one przekładalne na język klasycznych doktryn etycznych: utylitaryzmu, deontologii i etyki cnoty, przy zastosowaniu teorii etyki informacji. W ostatniej części tekstu stawiamy kilka otwartych problemów związanych z możliwością algorytmizacji i testowalności etyki. Tekst kończymy przeglądem możliwości, jakie dla tak rozumianej testowalności otwiera zastosowanie gier w schemacie eksperymentalnym.

According to the New Angle, any explanation of the Knobe effect must be gradable and asymmetric. It has been argued that only Hindriks' approach meets both criteria. First, we argue that Holton's hypothesis also meets the criteria. Second, we show that the authors are not justified in taking the criteria to be empirically justified. We have failed to replicate the asymmetry result in two experiments. Moreover, gradability can be objective or epistemic. We show that the New Angle presupposes objective gradability. In our experiments, the patterns of responses to questions about epistemic and objective gradability are the same, irrespective of whether the feature is objectively gradable (e.g., blameworthiness) or not (e.g., intentionality). Our results thus question the extent to which the New Angle is empirically grounded. Moreover, they raise doubt whether the answers to questions about epistemic and objective gradability can be taken at face value at all.