Cynthia Forlini

• PhD
• Lecturer at Deakin University

Background Socio-cultural perceptions surrounding death have profoundly changed since the 1950s with development of modern intensive care and progress in solid organ transplantation. Despite broad support for organ transplantation, many fundamental concepts and practices including brain death, organ donation after circulatory death, and some antemo...

tes and Australia. Methods A standardised two stage, mixed methodology was implemented. Stage 1 involved HCPs completing the e-module and completing an online survey (N = 77). Stage 2 involved conducting individual structured interviews with a subset of survey respondents (N = 37). Normalisation Process Theory and the Theoretical Framework of Acce...

The United Nations estimates that the world's population will reach 8.5 billion by 2030, and the populations of most countries are expected to grow older. This is case for many developed countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, and member states of the European Union. Older cohorts will comprise a la...

Organ donation (OD) following circulatory determination of death (DCDD) is an increasing source of transplant organs but little is known about community opinions on treatment withdrawal, death determination death and acceptance of OD in DCDD. To determine attitudes on death determination, the importance of patient choice in treatment withdrawal and...

Background Healthcare professionals (HCPs) provide an important point of contact through which people who use performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) could access reliable information, advice, and interventions on a range of PIEDs, their use and related harms. However, HCPs often report difficulties engaging and building rapport with people w...

The residency years comprise the last period of a physician’s formal training. It is at this stage that trainees consolidate the clinical skills required for independent practice and achieve a level of ethical development essential to their work as physicians, a process known as professional identity formation (PIF). Ethics education is thought to...

Entry on "Neuroenhancement" in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online. URL = https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/neuroenhancement/v-1

Despite brain death (BD) being established as a definition of death for over 50 years, the concept remains controversial. Little is known about public perception of death determination in decision‐making about withdrawal of organ support and organ donation (OD), and the importance of the ‘Dead Donor Rule’ (DDR). We examined perceptions about death...

Background and aims: Despite there exist many benefits of technological advancements, problematic use of emerging technologies may lead to consumers experiencing harms. Substantial problems and behavioral addictions, such as gambling and gaming disorders, are recognized to be related to Internet-based technologies, including the myriad of new devi...

This commentary invites discussion about implicit and explicit factors that impede research about substance use from a nuanced perspective that recognises potential benefits and advantages. It is argued that explicit efforts to engage in scholarship beyond those informed by theoretical and philosophical assumptions that substance use is inherently...

Background Case‐finding for dementia is practised by general practitioners (GPs) in Australia but without an awareness of community preferences. We explored the values and preferences of informed community members around case‐finding for dementia in Australian general practice. Design, setting and participants A before and after, mixed‐methods stu...

Background Some university students consume pharmaceutical stimulants without a medical prescription with the goal of improving their academic performance. The prevalence of this practice has been well documented in the US, but less so in other countries. The potential harms of using prescription stimulants require a better understanding of the pre...

As the world's population ages, governments and non-governmental organizations in developed countries are promoting healthy cognitive ageing to reduce the rate of age-related cognitive decline and sustain economic productivity in an ageing workforce. Recommendations from the Productivity Commission (Australia), Dementia Australia, Government Office...

As neuroethics grew as a field of study, training and research progams produced a cohort of pioneer graduate students. These students helped define the foundations and develop neuroethics scholarship as we know it. In this chapter, I describe three persisting experiences that marked my graduate studies in neuroethics: (1) training and researching a...

Robillard and Feng highlight incongruence between patient preferences and the procedural aspects of research ethics as they relate to protocols for dementia research. Their findings break ground for a reassessment of how research ethics, researchers, and participants (including patients and caregivers) approach participation in dementia research. H...

Given advances in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research, some experts have proposed a state of “preclinical” AD to describe asymptomatic individuals displaying certain biomarkers. The diagnostic accuracy of these biomarkers remains debated; however, given economic pressures, this “diagnosis” may eventually reach consumers. Since evidence-based preventi...

Background: There are reports that some university students are using prescription stimulants for non-medical ‘pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement (PCE)’ to improve alertness, focus, memory, and mood in an attempt to manage the demands of study at university. Purported demand for PCEs in academic contexts have been based on incomplete understandin...

Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a newly proposed, actively researched, and hotly debated research-only diagnostic category, raises the prospect of an ethical dilemma: whether, and possibly how, to treat a disorder with no target symptoms. This proposed category rests on the detection of a number of biomarkers thought to provide evidence of AD...

Ethical perspectives on the use of stimulants to enhance human cognitive performance (neuroenhancement) are polarized between conservative and liberal theories offering opposing advice on whether individuals have a right to use neuroenhancers and what the social outcomes of neuroenhancement might be. Meanwhile, empirical evidence shows modest preva...

Objective The authors describe the hidden ethics curriculum in two postgraduate psychiatry programs. Methods Researchers investigated the formal, informal, and hidden ethics curricula at two demographically different postgraduate psychiatry programs in Canada. Using a case study design, they compared three sources: individual interviews with reside...

We were disappointed by Nora Volkow and George Koob's response to our critique of the brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which simply repeats the promise of future treatment advances and puts the most favourable spin on modest treatments that have been used since Alan Leshner first promulgat...

This chapter provides an overview of policy and regulatory issues relating to the use of neuropharmaceuticals for cognitive enhancement in normal persons without a cognitive disorder. It draws on experience with a range of policy and regulatory approaches to alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceutical drugs, and illicit drugs and focuses on approaches that ta...

The use of prescription medications for the cognitive enhancement of healthy individuals has been a captivating and contentious subject in the media and in the bioethics literature. This chapter provides an overview of the roles the media have played in reporting features of the nonmedical use of prescription medications by healthy individuals for...

Background Some countries have banned the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).AimsWe analyse the ethical issues raised by this ban and various ways in which the sale of ENDS could be permitted.Method We examine the ban and alternative policies in terms of the degree to which they respect ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence,...

In the last decade, an increasing number of studies have suggested that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance brain function in healthy individuals, and ameliorate cognitive and other symptoms in patients suffering from various medical conditions. This, along with its presumed safety, simplicity, and affordability, has generate...

Since 1997 the US National Institute on Drug Abuse has advocated a brain disease model of addiction (BDMA). We assess the strength of evidence for the BDMA in animals, neuroimaging studies of people with addiction, and current research on the role of genetics in addiction. We critically assess claims about the medical and social benefits of use of...

It is argued that food addiction explanations of obesity may reduce the significant stigma levelled at obese and overweight individuals. We surveyed 479 adults to determine the prevalence of food addiction in the U.S. (n = 215) and, for the first time, in Australia (n = 264) using the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS). We also assessed the level of...

Across normative and empirical disciplines, considerable attention has been devoted to the prevalence and ethics of the non-medical use of prescription and illegal stimulants for neuroenhancement among students. A predominant assumption is that neuroenhancement is prevalent, in demand, and calls for appropriate policy action. In this paper, we pres...

Background Donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, has been widely cited in media and bioethics literature on cognitive enhancement (CE) as having the potential to improve the cognitive ability of healthy individuals. In both literatures, this claim has been repeatedly supported by the results of a...

In the debate on the ethics of the non-medical use of pharmaceuticals for cognitive performance enhancement in healthy individuals there is a clear division between those who view "cognitive enhancement" as ethically unproblematic and those who see such practices as fraught with ethical problems. Yet another, more subtle issue, relates to the relev...

Enhancing cognitive performance with substances–especially prescription drugs–is a fiercely debated topic among scholars and in the media. The empirical basis for these discussions is limited, given that the actual nature of factors that influence the acceptability of and willingness to use cognitive enhancement substances remains unclear. In an on...

Discourse on the issues related to the cognitive enhancement (CE) of healthy individuals using prescription medication has been firmly grounded in academia. Results from an emerging body of research examining the perspectives of non-academic stakeholders through surveys and focus groups have added experiential facets to the ethics debate around CE...

Research into the efficacy and safety of cognitive enhancers for recreational or lifestyle use has not been done. Should society pay for studies that might improve the lives of already healthy people?

The existence of diverging discourses in the media and academia on the use of prescription medications to improve cognition in healthy individuals, i.e. "cognitive enhancement" (CE) creates the need to better understand perspectives from stakeholders. This qualitative focus-group study examined perspectives from students, parents and healthcare pro...

Background: The debate on the nonmedical use of prescription medication for the enhancement of cognitive function (e.g., attention, memory, concentration, vigilance), accompanied by heated public discussions in the media, has spurred the interest of scholars and the public. Methods: In this article, we present qualitative data from a focus-group st...

The prospects of enhancing cognitive or motor functions using neuroscience in otherwise healthy individuals has attracted considerable attention and interest in neuroethics (Farah et al., Nature Reviews Neuroscience 5:421–425, 2004; Glannon Journal of Medical Ethics 32:74–78, 2006). The use of stimulants is one of the areas which has propelled the...

There is mounting evidence that methylphenidate (MPH; Ritalin) is being used by healthy college students to improve concentration, alertness, and academic performance. One of the key concerns associated with such use of pharmaceuticals is the degree of freedom individuals have to engage in or abstain from cognitive enhancement (CE). From a pragmati...

A recent discussion on cognitive enhancers has caused some controversy in the ethics and neuroscience fields by coming out in favour of making neuropharmaceuticals with enhancing properties available for general consumption. We highlight in this brief commentary why concerns regarding efficacy and safety, demands on resources, and public health are...

Coding structure used to analyze media, bioethics, and public health discourses on the non-medical use of methylphenidate (MPH).

There is substantial evidence that methylphenidate (MPH; Ritalin), is being used by healthy university students for non-medical motives such as the improvement of concentration, alertness, and academic performance. The scope and potential consequences of the non-medical use of MPH upon healthcare and society bring about many points of view. To gain...

L’émergence de l’utilisation du méthylphénidate (MPH; Ritalin) par des étudiants universitaires afin d’améliorer leur concentration et leurs performances universitaires suscite l’intérêt du public et soulève d’importants débats éthiques auprès des spécialistes. Les différentes perspectives sur l’amélioration des performances cognitives représentent...