Purpose:
To describe the ethical attitudes of corneal surgeons and eye bank leadership toward for-profit entities in corneal donation, processing, and distribution.
Methods:
Fifty postfellowship corneal surgeons practicing in the United States and 25 eye bank leaders (eg, eye bank directors, CEOs, or presidents) for the Eye Bank Association of America–accredited eye banks completed a 22-question interview, focusing on corneal donation industry changes, including the entry of for-profit institutions.
Results:
Most participants in both study groups agreed that they have concerns with the entry of for-profit businesses into eye banking (62% corneal surgeons, 68% eye bank leadership), although physicians partnered with a for-profit corneal processor were significantly more likely to have no concerns with the entry of for-profits into eye banking than corneal surgeons partnered with a nonprofit processor (P = 0.04). The most frequently identified concerns with the entry of for-profit businesses into corneal banking were the hypothetical loss of donor trust (56% corneal surgeons, 64% eye bank leadership, P = 0.04) and the potential exploitation of donor generosity (72% corneal surgeons, 60% eye bank leadership). Qualitative theme analysis suggests that both study groups may view increased research/innovation as a potential benefit (64% corneal surgeons, 66% eye bank leadership) of for-profits in eye banking.
Conclusions:
Key stakeholders in eye banking do hold relevant ethical beliefs toward recent industry changes, and these attitudes should be considered in the future creation of the ethical corneal donation policy. Further research is needed to assess the attitudes of potential donors and donor families.
Recent studies have implicated long-term pentosan polysulfate use with vision loss from a newly described macular condition. Affected patients report difficulty with reading and adjusting to dim lighting, and they occasionally develop severe visual disability. Macular changes resemble those seen in age-related macular degeneration, potentially leading to misdiagnosis. The objectives of this Current Commentary are to summarize studies evaluating the association between pentosan polysulfate use and macular disease, to educate pentosan polysulfate prescribers about the clinical manifestations of this condition, and to provide recommendations for screening at-risk patients.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.