Guest post by Daniel Sokol, barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk / King’s College London. Eight years after coming into force, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 has finally reached the scrutiny of the Supreme Court in Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v James [2013] UKSC 67. David James was a professional musician, and a family […]
Category: Guest Post
Biases in Clinical Ethics Consultation
Guest post by Morten Magelssen, Reidar Pedersen, and Reidun Førde Read the full paper here. A difficult case involving a patient in an intensive care unit is brought to a clinical ethics consultant. The ethics consultant argues that intensive care is futile and should be withdrawn. The clinicians are grateful for the advice, and, with […]
How Magic can help Teach Students about Medical Ethics
Guest post by Daniel Sokol, KCL For some time, I have been interested in the relationship between magic and medical ethics. Five years ago, I gave a talk in Prague on how to use magic in medical ethics education. More recently, I held a workshop on Magic for Anaesthetists, which touched on ethical issues in […]
Drug Legalisation in Uruguay: Opening up Pandora’s Box
Guest post by Melissa Bone, University of Manchester Uruguay is poised to become the first country in the world to legalise and regulate the sale of cannabis for recreational use. On the 31st July 2013 a draft bill legalising cannabis was passed by members of Uruguay’s lower house of congress, where 50 out of a […]
Emmerich on Fitness to Practise
Having asked out loud whether anyone could explain a couple of odd FtP decisions, I got this from Nathan Emmerich, offering sociological pop at an answer… Iain wondered if anyone could explain the morality that underlies a couple of recent Fitness to Practise decisions made by the GMC. Well, more accurately he wondered if anyone […]
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 […]