This book covers all ethical aspects of introducing novel implants and procedures in neurosurgery in a structured way, addressing the current knowledge gap concerning ethical innovations in neurosurgery. Initially it explores the difficulties involved in defining when a procedure should be considered innovation, research, or care. To this end, it presents not only an overview of current literature, but also data from a recent survey among neurosurgeons in Europe. The book subsequently discusses the ethical issues related to innovation. These include: informed consent (what should a surgeon tell the patient and how should he/she do so), oversight (can any surgeon simply implant a novel spinal device?), the learning curve (when should a surgeon be allowed to perform a novel procedure?), vulnerable patients (how to innovate in the pediatric population or in an emergency setting), and conflicts of interest, as well as the ethics of paying for innovative treatments. In turn, the closing chapters focus on the evaluation of neurosurgical research and innovation. Are cultural changes necessary and how could innovation benefit from (international) collaborations? Given the range of topics addressed, the book offers neurosurgeons, residents, scientists, companies and hospital administrations a valuable guide to introducing novel implants and techniques in neurosurgery.

Neurosurgical interventions have the potential to change a person's concept of self, as well as affect their neurological and cognitive function to an unacceptable level for both patient and family. In an increasingly complex and evolving field, the ethical implications of treatments and their eventual outcomes must be carefully balanced. Ethics in Neurosurgical Practice is a comprehensive and practical guide for managing the treatment of patients with debilitating neurosurgical conditions. Chapters address specific conditions, such as traumatic brain injuries, ischemic stroke and spinal surgery, and the ethical challenges that each of these pose. Detailed case studies present potential scenarios that readers might encounter, and their outcomes. Future developments of this fast-paced field are expanded upon, including televised live surgery and the ethical aspects of innovation in neurosurgery. A broad variety of contributors in different fields, including neurosurgeons, intensivists and bioethicists, ensures comprehensive coverage from a range of views and experiences.

Good neurosurgical practice is based not only on evidence, skills, and modern equipment, but also on good values. This book is the first to discuss specifically the ethical issues that arise during the daily practice of neurosurgery. It is divided into three parts addressing patients’ rights, ethical issues relating to the working environment, and wider societal aspects such as dealings of neurosurgeons with the legal system, the media, and companies. The authors are well-established neurosurgeons who present the ethical problems that they have encountered during their careers and explain what they have learned in confronting these problems. In all, more than 50 neurosurgical cases drawn from real life are reported and discussed from an ethical point of view. This book will be especially informative for young neurosurgeons and will provide all who work in this very special field with a road map on how to avoid violations of medical ethics in neurosurgical practice.

This work informs about major changes in health care systems at present and to come, and the ethical consequences. Rapid technological developments, especially in the fields of communication and virtual communication, artificial intelligence, implanted brain chips, augmented reality, in situ real-time pathological diagnosis of lesions during surgery, and others are challenging aspects of neurosciences in particular and medicine in general. Most of these modern technologies are available nowadays, just waiting to be tried and used. Ethicists (and neurosurgeons!) are facing unprecedented challenges as they have to be one step ahead in reading the future and predict what is coming and how the implementation of these technologies may affect patients’ safety, dignity, and autonomy. This book supports neurosurgeons and medical care providers to understand and implement the newly developed technologies, which will help advance medical care. Each chapter has been written by a world leader. Some of these authors are making the future and producing new advanced technologies. The authors discuss all the new innovations and the editors asked the authors to point out the ethical dilemmas if such technologies are implemented. The ethical questions are highlighted and suggestions are provided for solving such ethical problems to guarantee patient safety and dignity. According to the definition and principles of the Values-Based Medicine concept, the patient is the center of care, is the sole center of care. No compromising of patients’ well-being and safety can be allowed!

This supplement of Acta Neurochirurgica contains the proceedings of the Ninth Convention of the Academia Eurasiana Neurochirurgica held in Chateau St. Gerlach, Houthem, The Netherlands, 29 July - 1 August 1998. During this convention a three-day symposium on Neurosurgery and Medical Ethics was held. In this time of tremendous technical advancement in medicine in general and neurosurgery in particular, we are liable to lose sight of the sick patient as a human being, and the odds are that he will be the object rather than the subject of our action in the near future. It is a purpose and a task of the Academia Eurasiana Neurochirurgica to recognize this thread and to pay attention to tradition, morality and ethics in neurological surgery. The theme of this convention and the subject of the symposium met this purpose as no other. In the scientific sessions during the first day, the moral backgrounds of medical ethics in the most important cultures and religions in east and west were elucidated by invited experts in this field. A mutual respectful understanding of each other's conception of and belief in ethical principles is a growing necessity in our multicultural societies in both continents. On the second day, the ethical aspects of different fields of neurological surgery were discussed by members of the Academia. In this context, also the internationally much-discussed and much-criticized regulations on euthanasia in The Netherlands were explained.