Laboratory Science Ethics

Abstract

Laboratory science fostered a novel paradigm which assured the verifiability and reproducibility of knowledge underpinning biological phenomena. It also brought about the emergence of exactness and precision into the clinical practice of medicine. However, a number of ethical issues arise in its theory and praxis generally and in its application in the sphere of medicine. This entry engages some of the associated moral quandaries in terms of the nature of laboratory science as well as how it is put to use in the healthcare context. It also examines some of the attendant global ethical dimensions.