General Statement
Conflict of interest is a set of conditions in which professional
judgment concerning a primary interest may be unduly influenced
by a secondary interest.1 Primary interests are determined by
professional duties. In the case of bioethics, these duties
include:
• Scholars’ commitments to academic freedom, integrity
of research, and the open sharing of knowledge;
• Clinical researchers’ commitments to the autonomy
and welfare of research subjects;
• Teachers’ commitments to the education and mentorship
of their students;
• Clinical ethicists’ commitments to the welfare of
patients on whose cases they perform consultations;
• The duty of scholars and professionals, as recognized
experts who can influence public opinion, not to betray the
public trust that has been placed in them.
Secondary interests involve benefits to the professional. These
benefits may include:
• Financial gain;
• Academic and professional advancement;
• Professional or public recognition.
As Dennis Thompson points out, secondary interests are not
illegitimate in themselves and may even be “necessary and
desirable.”1 Bioethicists have flourished, “in great
measure because they have stepped out of the ivory tower to
exert real influence in the real world. Like everyone operating
there, bioethicists are influenced not only by a desire to do
good but also by a desire to do well by acquiring power, prestige,
and money.”2 The problem comes when secondary interests
begin to crowd out the primary interests and commitments of
bioethicists.
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1. Thompson D. Understanding conflicts of interest. New England
Journal of Medicine 1993;329:573-76.
2. Youngner SJ, Arnold R. Who will watch the watchers? Hastings
Center Report 2002;32(3):21-22.
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