By L. Syd M Johnson When Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria (BD/DNC) occurs during pregnancy, complex questions emerge concerning the moral and legal status of the brain dead pregnant person, the continuation of life-sustaining treatment to save a fetus, the exploitation of pregnant bodies, and the potential conflicts between the prior, autonomous wishes of pregnant […]
Category: Autonomy
Mind for Sale: When Cognitive Function Becomes a Monthly Fee
By Guido Cassinadri In the first episode of the seventh season of Black Mirror, “Common People,” the story follows a couple in which the wife’s life is saved by an experimental therapy (spoiler incoming). The portion of her brain affected by an incurable tumor is replaced with synthetic tissue developed by the company Rivermind. The […]
Do ecological preferences belong to patient autonomy? The answer is yes
By Sabine Salloch Healthcare is being increasingly recognized as a major emitter of greenhouse gases in industrialized societies. It accounts for approximately 5 percent of national carbon budgets. Whereas some countries already adopted national climate strategies targeting at a net-zero healthcare other governments still struggle with finding appropriate pathways. This is not surprising as, on […]
How treatment framing can mislead
By Shang Long Yeo Suppose a doctor believes that some treatment best serves a patient’s interests, and knows that framing treatment outcomes in terms of survival rates (‘out of 100 who took the treatment, 90 survive’) rather than death rates (’10 die’) will make it more likely for the patient to consent. Is the doctor […]
Expanding the mind and rights of patients with implantable BCIs
By Guido Cassinadri and Marcello Ienca Implantable brain-computer interfaces (iBCI) are implantable systems that record quantitative neural data and use them to deliver various responses such as therapeutic, diagnostic, or preventive interventions. BCIs have been used inter alia to predict seizures in epileptic patients by monitoring their neural data and either delivering electrical stimulation or […]
Voicing the realities of patient consent to unplanned obstetric interventions
By Frances Hand*, Morganne Wilbourne*, Sophie McAllister, Louise Print-Lyons, and Meena Bhatia. Approximately 46% of primiparous women using NHS facilities undergo an obstetric intervention during their labour. For women with a planned intervention (usually a caesarean birth) conversations regarding consent are mostly straightforward and occur during the pregnancy. Where an intervention is unplanned, current practice […]
Additional factors tending against the prosecution of suspects in cases of ‘mercy killings’ ought to concern all sides of the debate
By Rebecca Limb. Assisted dying is unlawful in England and Wales. To end or assist in the ending of another’s life out of compassion for and/or at the direction of the victim is not a defence to murder. A suspect will be prosecuted where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest […]
Decision-making in injustice: MAiD in Canada after Bill C-7
By Kayla Wiebe and Amy Mullin. In February, 2022, a Canadian citizen with a severe case of multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) requested and subsequently received medical assistance in dying (MAiD). The decision to request MAiD was made after a two-year fight to access housing that would have made living with their condition tolerable. This kind of […]
Multifetal pregnancy reduction – why would you do it?
By Gregory K Pike. Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction (MFPR) was initially a response to the high incidence of multiples in Assisted Reproductive Technology. It has even been called “an integral fail-safe of infertility practice”. Its goal was, and mostly still is, to improve outcomes by terminating some fetuses in a multiple pregnancy, on the grounds that […]
Respect for autonomy in medical ethics: it’s more complicated than you think
By Xavier Symons and Susan Pennings. Respect for patient autonomy is perhaps the pre-eminent principle in contemporary bioethics. What else, after all, is more important than respecting the considered preferences of patients and research participants in medicine? Tom Beauchamp once wrote that “[the] moral value of respect for autonomy precedes and is not the product […]