By Michael Fay and Edward Dove ABC v St George’s Healthcare (2017) is an important legal decision, and its return to court in November 2019 will be no less significant for doctors’ duties of care. Currently, a doctor is subject to a duty of care to their patient. A doctor also has a corresponding duty […]
Category: clinical ethics
Charging migrant women for pregnancy care is a worrying sign of the times
By Arianne Shahvisi and Fionnuala Finnerty Precious is a 26-year-old Eritrean woman who has recently arrived in the UK. She wishes to apply for asylum but is yet to do so. Precious is destitute and is living in a church and relying on the kindness of the Eritrean community. She sees a GP at an […]
How should crisis sedation be presented to dying patients at risk of a catastrophic event?
By Dr Nathan Emmerich and Prof Bert Gordijn When we consider the end of our life and the actual circumstances of our death the vast majority of us would prefer to go peacefully, perhaps dying of simple old age at the end of a life well lived. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Whilst the […]
When is it ethical to pay clinical trial participants different amounts?
By Govind Persad, Holly Fernandez Lynch, and Emily Largent. This collaboration grew out of our shared experience as scholars studying research ethics and (for some of us) as institutional review board members. We witnessed debates over when, if ever, it can be fair to pay different participants in the same study different amounts of money. […]
Doctors, stop asking your trans patients for referral letters before giving them hormones
By Florence Ashley. A few days ago, I sent off an email to someone I know at my university’s student health clinic to inquire about their ability to prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to trans students. A friend of mine had recently contacted me for recommendations of providers, but I knew that most of the […]
Well That’s Something Worth Dissecting
By Natalie Cohen It was my first day of anatomy class. Dressed in hand-me-down scrubs covered by a blue smock that still smelled of its packaging, I opened the laboratory double doors and began my long walk towards table one, with each step I passed by lab tables with white plastic sheets covering what I […]
Prognostic paralysis: why do doctors shirk the difficult questions?
By Mohammad S Razai The morning she was told about the recurrence of her breast cancer, Mary1 remembers the framed pastiche of Monet’s Water Lilies hanging on the wall of the clinic, the pungent odour of disinfectant and the rustle of pages fanning as her oncologist turned them, deftly and effortlessly. With an acute sense of […]
Getting Un-Psyched About Ethics
By Nicholas Kontos My biggest insecurity about being a psychiatrist with an interest in medical ethics is being a psychiatrist with an interest in medical ethics. Either of those elements is fantastic on its own, and a handful of psychiatrists do advance the idea of our specialty having special ethical standing and knowledge. Yet, having […]
Physician Autonomy
By Stephen McAndrew. Traditionally, physicians worked in practices owned and operated by physicians as this was thought to ensure that physician judgment concerning patient treatment was not affected by outside non-medical factors. This meant that physicians were seen as autonomous professionals using their education and skill in medical science to treat patients. Increasingly physicians work […]
Patient, Know Thyself: Ethical Complexities in Assessing a Patient’s Level of Insight
By Laura Guidry-Grimes Trust is a precious commodity in clinical settings. Not only do healthcare professionals request an enormous amount of trust from patients the second they walk into the door, but patients expect to be trusted as well. The clinical encounter usually begins with the patient’s explaining why they want medical assistance and any […]