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 […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…

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 […]

Read More…