The Liverpool Care Pathway provides a rubric for managing the care of the terminally ill as they approach death. A helpful pamphlet explaining what it is and what it does is available here. Ideally, I’d quote the lot; but for the sake of efficiency, I’ll make do with an edited quotation: What is the Liverpool […]
Category: In the News
Savita Halappanavar: A Woman who Died Needlessly, not a Political Wedge’
Guest post by Sorcha Uí Chonnachtaigh I am going to, rather controversially, agree with one aspect of the statements of pro-life activists commenting on this case. That is not something I thought I’d ever say. Like, ever ever. A statement issued by Youth Defence (one of Ireland’s most radical pro-life organisations) made the valid point that “Irish doctors are […]
But what if you Don’t Want to be Regulated?
The Malaysian Parliament has just approved a law about traditional medicine. The Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act is largely about the regulation of practitioners of TCM – notably, setting up a regulatory Council. According to section II (5) The Council shall have the following functions: (a) to advise the Minister on matters of national policy relating […]
Mitochondrial Disease and the HFEA
Readers are probably aware of the consultation that the HFEA launched this week on the use of mitochondrial replacement to prevent certain illnesses. John Harris has a piece on it in The Guardian – and by gosh golly, he’s right*; the article is well worth a quick look. My own ha’p’orth: some of the stuff in the […]
R v Catt: The (Slightly Strange) Judge’s Remarks
Earlier today, Sarah Catt was jailed for 8 years for inducing the termination of her own pregnancy at 39 weeks’ gestation. The transcript of the comments of Mr Justice Cooke, sentencing, is available here. I don’t want for this to get bogged down in questions of the moral rights and wrongs of abortion, at whatever […]
How Not to Respond to the Nicklinson Verdict
Unsurprisingly, the ruling handed down last week in respect of Tony Nicklinson and “Martin” has generated a lot of comment. A lot of that comment has disagreed with the ruling. David Allen Green, the Staggers‘ legal correspondent and also known as the blogger Jack of Kent, tweeted that it was a “dreadful court decision… depriving […]
NIcklinson and “Martin” Lose their Cases
The ruling, and a summary, are available here. I wouldn’t want to say that I told you so… but I did. Twice. And I can’t help but to wonder if this case should ever have come to court. Sympathetic as I am to the moral arguments in favour of assisted dying, whether those arguments can be […]
Where do Kids fit in Kidnapping?
What with Seb Coe’s Sports Day dominating the news at the moment, it was only by chance that I noticed this story: Ann Pettway, convicted of kidnapping a 19-day-old child from a hospital 23 years ago, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Pettway’s defence team had suggested that the child, Carlina White, had been […]
More on Circumcision in Germany
Søren Holm sometimes jokes that, if you want your conference well-attended, you should have a paper on the ethics of circumcision. I don’t know how well-attended the recent IAB satellite on the topic was – the first half clashed with Peter Singer doing his thing, which can’t have helped it, and I couldn’t go to […]
Circumcision in Germany: The Courts Speak
I’m writing this while listening to Mary Warnock talking at the IAB, so it’ll be unusually short and to the point: a court in Germany has ruled that male circumcision for religious reasons “amounts to bodily harm”. In a decision that has caused outrage among Jewish and Muslim groups, the court said that a child’s […]