Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38842351›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of bioethics : AJOB2025

Is Suffering a Useless Concept?

Ryan H Nelson, Brent Kious, Emily Largent, Bryanna Moore, Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby

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
–field-weighted citation impact
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.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Suffering is a Useful Concept When We Understand the Sufferer.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2025
    Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ryan H NelsonAbbott Northwestern Hospital.ORCID 0000-0003-0063-0689
Brent KiousUniversity of Utah.ORCID 0000-0003-3477-5659
Emily LargentUniversity of Pennsylvania.ORCID 0000-0002-7536-5077
Bryanna MooreUniversity of Rochester.ORCID 0000-0001-9086-1952
Jennifer Blumenthal-BarbyBaylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0003-1054-619X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

"Suffering" is a central concept within bioethics and often a crucial consideration in medical decision making. As used in practice, however, the concept risks being uninformative, ambiguous, or even misleading. In this paper, we consider a series of cases in which "suffering" is invoked and analyze them in light of prominent theories of suffering. We then outline ethical hazards that arise as a result of imprecise usage of the concept and offer practical recommendations for avoiding them. Appeals to suffering are often getting at something ethically important. But this is where the work of ethics begins, not where it ends.

Indexed as

Decision MakingPainStress, PsychologicalHumansclinical ethicsflourishingmedical decision makingphilosophySufferingvalues

Identifiers

PMID38842351

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.