News and Views

Government and business regained some public trust in 2010, according to the annual Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of educated, affluent citizens in the top 10 GDP countries.  However, this trend did not hold in the United States, where trust of many institutions fell sharply.  The U.S. banking industry experienced the steepest decline -- a 46-point drop in trust from 2008 to 2011.  Related resource: Edelman Trust Barometer highlights.

Americans are sharply divided over the dramatic changes in the structure of the family that have occurred in recent decades, a survey by Pew Research Center finds.  These changes include "more unmarried couples raising children; more gay and lesbian couples raising children; more single women having children without a male partner to help raise them; more people living together without getting married; more mothers of young children working outside the home; more people of different races marrying each other; and more women not ever having children."  Roughly a third of Americans accept the changes, a third are tolerant but skeptical, and a third view them as bad for society.  Related resource: Pew Research Center study on changes in family structure.

Today's college students crave self-esteem above all else, reflecting an unhealthy societal belief that "self-esteem is the cure all for every social ill," says a study published in the latest issue of Journal of Personality.  "The problem isn’t with having high self-esteem; it’s how much people are driven to boost their self-esteem," explains one of the researchers. "When people highly value self-esteem, they may avoid doing things such as acknowledging a wrong they did."  The findings are consistent with research on the Millennial generation whose parents often went to great lengths to build self-esteem, including awarding trophies to every team in youth sports, including the losers. Related resource: Ohio State University report on the study.

Are employees more likely to report wrongdoing at work when economic times are tough? A new report from the Ethics Resource Center says the percentage of workers who say they report misconduct rose to 63 percent in 2009, up from 58 percent in 2007.  Between 2000 and 2009 the percentage of employees who observed and reported misconduct averaged 59 percent.  Related resource: Ethics Resource Center Report on Whistleblowing.

News and Views

For the first time, a majority of U.S. medical schools have implemented strong conflict-of-interest policies, according to the 2010 American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard.  The Scorecard, developed by AMSA and the Pew Prescription Project, finds that 79 of 152 medical schools (52 percent) now receive a grade of A or B for their policies governing pharmaceutical industry interaction with medical school faculty and students, compared with 45 last year.  Related resource: AMSA Scorecard with grades for each medical school.

Speaking of the pharmaceutical industry, the public ranks it with oil, health insurance and tobacco as industries needing more regulation, according to a new poll by Harris Interactive. Together with the telecommunications and automobile industries, these are the least trusted businesses in America. "When asked which of a list of 17 industries are generally honest and trustworthy, almost half (48%) of all adults say 'none of these' which is the highest number giving this negative response since we first asked this question in 2003," the firm reported. The findings confirm a number of other studies showing that public trust of institutions is in decline. Related resource: Press release on survey findings, Dec. 2, 2010.

Can empathy be learned?  And if so, can it be taught?  An innovative project at Capital University in Ohio aims to find out by immersing six selected students in activities designed to let them "walk a mile in someone else's shoes."  The Empathy Project was conceived by Capital President Denvy Bowman, who calls it a "monumental undertaking" but is not willing to divulge many details while students are applying for the chance to participate.  Below is a short video of Bowman describing the project:



A University of Michigan study concluded several months ago that today's college students are not as empathetic as students of the 1980s and 1990s.  Sara Konrath, a researcher on the 30-year study of 14,000 students, suggests that exposure to media and social networking could be a reason: "Compared to 30 years ago, the average American now is exposed to three times as much nonwork-related information. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games, and a growing body of research, including work done by my colleagues at Michigan, is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others."  Related resources:  University of Michigan research on students and empathy; sample questions from the University of Michigan study.

One in every four people in the world paid a bribe to a public official during the last year, according to a study by Transparency International released this week on International Anti-Corruption Day.  The Berlin-based non-governmental agency reported data on small-scale bribery from polls of more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories.  While bribes were frequently paid to health, education and tax authorities, it was law enforcement that proved most corrupt, with 29 percent of people who had dealings with police saying they paid a bribe. Worldwide, sub-Saharan Africa was the region reporting the greatest incidence of bribery with more than one person in two saying they had bribed government officials in the last year.  The Middle East and North Africa was the next most corrupt region, followed by the former Soviet republics, South America, the Balkans and Turkey, the Asia-Pacific region, the European Union, and North America.  Related resource: Transparency International 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.

News and Views

Trust in government and other institutions in the United States continues to decline, as a Pew Research Center survey finds "an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials." Forty-three percent of Republicans say the federal government presents a major threat to their personal freedom, as do 50 percent of independents who lean Republican. This contrasts with just 18 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of Democrat-leaning independents. Meanwhile, the level of public discontent is similar with other major institutions. Just 25 percent say the federal government has a positive effect on the country, but the ratings are just as low for large corporations (25 percent positive) and banks and other financial institutions (22 percent positive).

The American Bar Association has begun a "thorough" three-year review of its Model Rules of Professional Conduct in response to rapid "advances in technology and global legal practice developments." The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 is holding hearings and soliciting input from lawyers and other interested parties. The initiative was prompted in part by the growing numbers of lawyers and clients seeking to navigate the complex international legal environment. The Model Rules on Professional Conduct, adopted in 1983, serve as the model for ethics rules in most states.

A new voluntary ethics code addressing the interaction of professional medical societies and for-profit companies was announced recently by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS). "Members and patients count on Societies to be authoritative, independent voices in the world of science and medicine," the group said. "Public confidence in our objectivity is critical to carrying out our mission." CMSS comprises 32 medical societies and more than 650,000 physicians. The code advises societies to develop educational programs, advocacy positions, and research grants independently of private companies, and stresses that professionals in leadership positions (e.g., presidents, CEOs and editors-in-chief of society journals) should avoid direct financial relationships with relevant companies.

President Obama has asked for a comprehensive study of the ethics of synthetic life after the J. Craig Venter Institute announced its creation of the first synthetic self-replicating life form. The review is the first assignment for a new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues, created to "identify and examine specific bioethical, legal and social issues related to the potential impacts of advances...in science and technology." The commission is chaired by Amy Gutman, president of the University of Pennsylvania and a leading expert in ethics and public policy. Some ethicists and theologians see the creation of this new cell as a dangerous attempt to play God with unforeseen consequences, while others stress the potential benefits of new medical treatments, new fuel sources and other breakthroughs. Related resources: Wall Street Journal article by Craig Venter and Daniel Gibson, "How We Created the First Synthetic Cell"; BBC Interview with Ethicists; Washington Post profile of Amy Gutman.

Anesthesiologists assisting with executions by lethal injection will lose their certification under a new policy of the American Board of Anesthesiologists. Board certification is required to work at most hospitals. A statement said "it is the ABA’s Professional Standing Policy that diplomates should use their clinical skills and judgment for promoting an individual's health and welfare. To do otherwise would undermine a basic ethical foundation of medicine which is – first do no harm." The American Medical Association has long opposed capital punishment, but the new ABA policy carries unprecedented sanctions.

A report challenging critics of international aid has been published by Oxfam, a coalition of 14 organizations addressing global poverty. The study proposes "systemic reforms" and contends that aid is "indispensable in unlocking poor countries’ and people’s ability to work their own way out of poverty," a view supported by Jeffrey D. Sachs, author of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. Opposing arguments are advanced by William Easterly in The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. Related resource: Oxfam Report, 21st Century Aid: Recognizing Success and Tackling Failures.

News and Views

Nurses once again are the professionals Americans trust most. Eighty-three percent of Americans say nurses have either very high or high ethical standards, positioning them at the top of Gallup's annual ranking of various professions. They have retained the No. 1 spot in the poll for the last decade. Rounding out the top five are pharmacists, medical doctors, police officers and engineers. The bottom five - or least trusted - are members of Congress, car salespeople, United States Senators, stockbrokers and HMO managers. The December 2009 survey marked the first time the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress were ranked as "low" or "very low" by a majority (55 percent) of Americans.

Only 28 percent of global companies – and less than half of those with market capitalizations of more than $10 billion – have labor and human rights policies covering their global supply chains, according to an analysis of 2,500 companies by Harvard Law School's Pensions Project and ASSET4. “Benchmarking Corporate Policies on Labor and Human Rights in Global Supply Chains,” finds that even "fewer have follow up procedures; only 15 percent have issued a detailed LHR code of conduct for their suppliers." About 43 percent of companies based in Europe have labor and human rights policies for suppliers, compared to only 23 percent of US companies and 20 percent of Asian firms. The industries most likely to have such policies are those that have experienced negative publicity about abuses by suppliers.

Incidents of health-care fraud are increasing with the downturn in the economy, according to a survey of ethics and compliance professionals by the Health Care Compliance Association. One quarter of respondents reported an increase in the last year in the number of incidents of actual or attempted fraud. By comparison, 13 percent had seen fewer such incidents. The study asked about five types of fraud: illegal kickbacks and Stark (self-referral) violations; services not provided as claimed; services not medically necessary; hospital stays not supported by medical necessity; and reimbursement claims for durable medical equipment.

News and Views

American adults trust their medical providers to protect the privacy of their personal information. A recent BBC World News America/The Harris Poll finds that doctors and hospitals are more trusted with confidential information than are email providers, banks, and government agencies. Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook and MySpace) enjoy much less trust. A number of studies show that public trust of institutions has been in sharp decline worldwide for the last decade. Related resource: 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer research report.

Researchers at Duke University found a strong correlation between ethical leadership skills and corporate financial performance. In the Duke Executive Leadership Survey , competencies associated with credibility were identified as being most important for senior executives. These included the ability to engage employees in the company’s vision, to inspire employees to raise their goals, and to promote an environment in which employees have a sense of responsibility for the whole organization. Leadership development was identified as the No. 2 challenge facing organizations, especially as budgets for training and developmnet are being reduced.

The Access to Medicine Index (AMI) rates and ranks the efforts of 20 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies to increase universal access to medicine. The AMI uses eight measures, broadly assessing each firm's policies and actions, especially as they impact developing countries. Wim Leereveld, chairman of the foundation sponsoring the project, explains, "The main purpose is to encourage pharmaceutical companies to do more. What gets measured gets managed - and whilst these companies have respect for governments, and NGOs, they mostly respect each other – so the list had to be a rank.” Related resources: AMI web site, featuring an interactive tool for comparing corporate information.

A large majority of Americans believe access to legal assistance is extremely or very important to people in crisis. According to a new study by Harris Interactive for the American Bar Association, nearly nine in ten think non-profit legal services provider is necessary to help those who cannot afford lawyers, and two-thirds support federal funding for such services.