By Iain Brassington (Cross-posted from EJIL: Talk!) For those with an internet connection and an interest in current affairs, the story of Charlie Gard been hard to avoid recently. A decent précis is available here; but it’s worth rehearsing. Shortly after his birth, Charlie’s health began to deteriorate, and he was diagnosed with a terminal and […]
Category: Law
Charlie Gard and the Ethics Commentator
Guest Post: Daniel Sokol ‘Best interest’ cases, such as the Charlie Gard case, are fundamentally about medical ethics, although they are determined by a single judge in a court of law. At the hearing last week, there were at least 4 express references to medical ethics. The first appeared in the hospital’s “position statement”, drafted […]
Never Let an Ill Child Go to Waste
By Iain Brassington The Charlie Gard saga is one about which I’ve been reluctant to say anything, not least because plenty of other people have said plenty elsewhere. Sometimes they add heat, and sometimes they add light. Beneath everything, the story is fairly simple: a small child is terribly ill; it is agreed by medical opinion […]
What’s the Point of Professional Ethical Codes?
For a few reasons, I’ve been thinking a bit over the last few months about professionalism and professional codes. In fact, that’s the topic that’s attracted most of my attention here since… oooh, ages ago. I find the idea of a code of professional ethics troubling in many ways, but also fascinating. And one of […]
Law Changes and Slippery Slopes
Apparently, there was a TV programme in Australia the other day in which a there was a discussion of assisted dying. It got reported in The Guardian, largely on the basis that an 81-year-old audience member kept calling Margaret Somerville “darling” and then got mildly sweary. I’ve only seen those clips from the programme that […]
A Matter of Life and Death
Guest Post by Professor Lynn Turner-Stokes Re: A matter of life and death – controversy at the interface between clinical and legal decision-making in prolonged disorders of consciousness In an article published in the JME, I highlight the confusion that exists amongst many clinicians, lawyers and members of the public about decisions with withdraw life-sustaining treatments […]
LECTURE: Rebalancing Empowerment and Protection: Evolving Legal Frameworks for Impaired Capacity
Thursday 8 December 2016, 18:00 – 19:00 UCL Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Speaker: Professor Mary Donnelly (University College Cork) Chair: TBC Accreditation: This event is accredited with 1 CPD hour with the SRA and BSB Admission: Free, Registration required (here) The past decade has seen a notable […]
Are Single Men in the UK Entitled to have a Baby using Fertility Treatment?
Guest post by Atina Krajewska, Rachel Cahill-O’Callaghan, and Melanie Fellowes The World Health Organisation is currently considering a change in the definition of infertility according to which, it has been reported, “single men and women without medical issues [would] be classed as ‘infertile’, if they do not have children but want to become a parent.” Although […]
Natal Nativism
Scene: the boardroom of a large NHS Trust, somewhere in England. “And so that brings us neatly to the last item on the agenda: passport checks for pregnant women who want a checkup. The thing is, you see, that it turns out that we’ve been providing obstetric care to some women who aren’t actually UK citizens. […]
Further Clarity on Co-operation and Morality
Guest Post by David S. Oderberg, University of Reading Re: Further clarity on co-operation and morality The 2014 US Supreme Court decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby was a landmark case on freedom of religion and conscience in the USA. The so-called ‘contraceptive mandate’ of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) requires employers to provide health insurance […]