By Jennifer O’Neill. This week, the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC) revisited its ruling in the landmark case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire [2015]. In McCulloch v Forth Valley Health Board [2023], the Supreme Court Justices established that doctors do not need to inform patients of all possible treatment alternatives as a requirement of informed consent. […]
Category: Medical ethics
“We could use that as a tiebreaker” – Yes, but why should we?
By Borgar Jølstad and Erik Gustavsson. Health care priority setting should be based on morally relevant factors such as need, severity, and maximizing health outcomes. But sometimes we must choose between health care allocations where these primary considerations are tied. It is sometimes suggested, and implemented in practice, that in these situations other, perhaps more […]
Consent for medical treatment: What is ‘reasonable’?
By Abeezar I Sarela. Consent is fundamental to good medical practice. The General Medical Council (GMC) advises doctors to comply with the law in obtaining patients’ consent for medical treatment. Currently, the law on consent derives from the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board. This judgment emphasizes […]
Patient data for companies: Patient privacy, private profits and the public good
By Adrian Thorogood and Eva Winkler. Our paper tackles a question that policymakers and public healthcare systems are wrestling with around the world: should for-profit companies be given access to medical data derived from patients for research? In public healthcare systems, medical data is generated as part of the routine care of patients, and through […]
Pig hearts and paediatrics: how children will require distinctive ethical approaches when xenotransplantation becomes a reality
By Anthony Merlocco Due to the ongoing struggle to obtain organs for those in need, and the resulting morbidity and mortality while awaiting organs, renewed efforts to study transplantation between species, or xenotransplantation (XTx), have emerged. Gene editing has been used to enhance human graft survival or to make animal organs better suited for a […]
Decision-making in injustice: MAiD in Canada after Bill C-7
By Kayla Wiebe and Amy Mullin. In February, 2022, a Canadian citizen with a severe case of multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS) requested and subsequently received medical assistance in dying (MAiD). The decision to request MAiD was made after a two-year fight to access housing that would have made living with their condition tolerable. This kind of […]
The dark side of psychedelics’ power
By Daniel Villiger. Last year, the German crime series Tatort, which belongs to the most watched television shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, aired an episode that takes place in the psychedelic underground. In his mansion, a spiritually-oriented psychiatrist hosts psychedelics sessions for his patients or, rather, his followers. Little surprisingly for a crime story, […]
Curiosity gone too far: a cautionary tale about snooping
By Wilson Dunlop [Pseudonym]. Just two weeks into my third-year of medical school, I committed a grave sin. I was alone in my room on my laptop, familiarizing myself with the software that powered the electronic health record (EHR). It was like any other night—a mixture of laziness and productivity and needless juggling between my […]
Overcoming impediments to medically assisted dying: A signal for another approach?
By Juergen Dankwort. The proposal to provide assistance with voluntary assisted dying (VAD) has grown significantly over the past two decades at an accelerating rate. Right-to-die movement societies and organizations now number over 80 from around the world, 58 of which are members of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. However, most are […]
To breach or not to breach a patient’s confidentiality? A case study in the colorectal clinic
By Daniel Sokol. A patient presents to the colorectal clinic with bleeding from the rectum. “Doctor”, he says sheepishly, “I must tell you that I have sex with my dog.” Intercourse with an animal, once known as ‘buggery with an animal’, is a criminal offence under s69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, with a […]