By Abeezar I. Sarela. In its recent guidance on consent, the General Medical Council (GMC) advises doctors to not provide treatment that ‘you (the doctor) don’t think would be in their (the patient’s) clinical interests’. It follows that doctors should only provide treatments that are in the patient’s clinical interests. But, what exactly is meant […]
Category: consent
The furore around whole bodily gestational donation: a tale of misplaced anger?
By Anna Nelson. Prompted by a sensationalist headline in the Daily Mail, there has been a furore on social media around an article published last year by bioethicist Anna Smajdor in which she defends ‘Whole Bodily Gestational Donation’ (WBGD). Put simply WBGD means that, with prior consent, the bodies of women in a permanent vegetative […]
How much information is enough? It should be your choice!
By Sophie Ludewigs, Jonas Narchi, Lukas Kiefer and Eva C. Winkler. It is rare to return from a visit at the doctor’s office or a clinic and feel informed to a satisfactory degree. In many cases, one will either feel completely overwhelmed by the amount of medical information and the professional lingo used, or, on […]
David Bennett and the first porcine xenotransplantation
By Christopher Gyngell and Julian Savulescu. At 57, David Bennett was dying. He had a decades long history of heart disease. Prior treatments, including surgery, had proved ineffective. In November 2021, he was diagnosed with uncontrollable arrhythmia and was admitted to the University of Maryland Medical Centre. Despite the best efforts of clinicians, his condition […]
Respecting autonomy in altered states: Navigating ethical quandaries in psychedelic therapy
By Hannah McLane, Courtney Hutchison, Daniel Wikler, Timothy Howell, & Emma Knighton. Research into psychedelic-assisted therapy has grown in the past ten years as non-profits, academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and even venture capitalists race to develop protocols for using MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, and other psychedelic substances to treat mental illness. Already, dozens of ketamine clinics […]
Who gets to decide when I can’t? End of life decision-making and deceased donation
By Dominique E. Martin and Shih-Ning Then Most of us have ideas about how we want decisions to be made at the end of our lives, and some of us also have strong views about donating our organs and tissues after we die. Many of us appoint a loved one to make decisions on our […]
Consent requires more than respect for autonomy
By Abeezar I Sarela. Health is foundational to freedom We live in an increasingly libertarian society. Each individual’s liberty, or freedom, to do as she wishes in leading her own life is highly prized. The emphasis on freedom is particularly high in matters of healthcare. This derives from an appreciation that health is central to […]
How to apply the MCA capacity criteria more transparently and reliably
By Scott Kim, Nuala Kane, Alex Ruck Keene, Gareth Owen. A lot is at stake in a mental capacity evaluation. An error can lead to a capacitous adult’s decision being ignored or even overruled, or to a vulnerable, incapacitous person being abandoned to their ‘rights.’ Unfortunately, there is no simple formula that generates the right […]
Ethics guidance for biobanking practice in low-and middle-income-countries during COVID-19
By Shenuka Singh, Rosemary Jean Cadigan and Keymanthri Moodley Biobanking has the potential to make valuable contributions to health research through the collection, storage and sharing of human samples and data for research purposes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, storing samples for future research is a public health imperative. There are, however, several ethical concerns. These […]
Illness live: sick children on social media
By Elise Burn. The gap between our ‘real life’ and the life we portray on social media is widening, with many people curating themed social media accounts to promote a certain aspect of themselves. Many social media influencers curate their accounts to contribute towards the development of their brand. It is not unusual for adults […]