Commentary

This case highlights several challenging and emotionally laden issues about the growing field of end-of-life research. Dr. R's pointed questions to the trial's PI suggest two issues in particular that deserve our attention. First, we ought to consider whether end-of-life research is as ethically dubious as Dr. R suggests. Second, we should take a step back and consider Dr. R's second question about the ethics of the trial's exclusion criteria. The first question is an ethical one, but the second has both ethical and scientific aspects. By examining each of these questions in turn, we will get a more complete picture of the ethical contours of this case, and we can begin to appreciate that ethics and science are inextricably intertwined in end-of-life research.