Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37962933›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of bioethics : AJOB2025

Agent-Regret in Healthcare.

Gavin Enck, Beth Condley

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
5.7field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Moral distress: sometimes, there is no fix.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2025
    Article
  4. How Anticipation of Agent-Regret Can Undermine Clinical Decision-Making.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Gavin EnckThe University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Beth CondleyThe University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center · USUniversity of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

For healthcare professionals and organizations, there is an emphasis on addressing moral distress and compassion fatigue among clinicians. While addressing these issues is vital, this paper suggests that the philosophical concept of agent-regret is a relevant but overlooked issue in healthcare. To experience agent-regret is to regret your harmful but not wrongful actions. This person's action results in someone being killed or significantly injured, but it was ethically faultless. Despite being faultless, agent-regret is an emotional response concerning one's agency in a situation that results in death or significant harm. In healthcare, many clinicians are likely to experience regret for faultless actions that significantly harm or cause the death of a patient. The recognition of agent-regret in healthcare is significant because it differs, conceptually and practically, from moral distress and compassion fatigue. Building on the work of Wojtowicz (2022), we should strive to understand clinicians' agent-regret by recognizing their agency in the situation, not lessening or removing it.

Indexed as

Compassion FatigueDelivery of Health CareEmotionsHealth PersonnelEmpathyHumansMoralsagent-regretcompassion fatigueethicsMoral distress

Identifiers

PMID37962933
OpenAlexW4388653509

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.