Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41090953›Full record

ArticleThe American journal of bioethics : AJOB2026

Reflecting on Principlism: Explaining, But Not Guiding, Clinical Ethics Analysis.

Adam Omelianchuk, Joanna Smolenski, Holland Kaplan, Matthew Shea, Jared N Smith, Trevor Bibler, Claire Horner, Janet Malek

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Adam OmelianchukThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0003-3241-2870
Joanna SmolenskiThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-1652-770X
Holland KaplanThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0003-0380-7363
Matthew SheaThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0003-2984-439X
Jared N SmithThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-2787-3798
Trevor BiblerThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-5004-7558
Claire HornerThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0002-8351-2380
Janet MalekThe Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine.ORCID 0000-0003-1299-9803

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Tom Beauchamp's contributions to the field of bioethics are as influential as they are numerous. Here we reflect on his intellectual legacy, specifically his role in establishing principlism as a method of bioethical analysis. Despite its prominence in medical ethics education, in our experience as clinical ethicists and researchers, we rarely analyze ethical issues the way principlism suggests, either in the clinic or our scholarship. In this paper, we consider the complex ways in which principlism may fruitfully relate to other approaches to ethical analysis in clinical ethics (e.g., the four-box method) as well as its relative strengths and drawbacks pedagogically, explanatorily, and translationally. We conclude with some reflections about the intellectual flexibility of principlism and its role in fostering interdisciplinary bioethics.

Indexed as

BioethicsEthical AnalysisEthical TheoryEthics, ClinicalPrinciple-Based EthicsEthicistsHumansBeauchampbiomedical ethicsclinical ethicsFour principles

Identifiers

PMID41090953

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.