Say twenty hail Autonomy’s and reflect on what you have done – bioethicists as having some, but not priestly authority.

By David Hunter Nathan Emmerich, occasional commentator here at the JME blog has recently published an interesting piece in the Guardian which argues against us taking bioethicists as having a particular type of expertise. While I enjoyed and agree with much of what he argues I do have a couple of quibbles – in particular […]

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The kindest cut?

By John McMillan It goes without saying that castrating sex offenders in order to control their behaviour is highly controversial. Likewise, describing something that damages a person physically as ‘treatment’ is problematic for many. That’s partly because of the image, reinforced even by publications as prominent as Time, that castration involves excising a man’s testicles […]

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Is the NIMH Turning its Back on DSM-V?

Thanks to Brian Earp for bringing this release from the US’ National Institute of Mental Health to my attention; it concerns the Institute’s decision to move away from DSM as its diagnostic tool.  DSM has been enormously successful – in terms of having established itself at the centre of psychiatry – but it has been […]

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