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 […]
Category: Medical ethics
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 […]
Re-thinking consent for treatment: clinical interests and the public interest
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 […]
Have ethicists overlooked obvious benefits of financial incentives for antipsychotics?
By Nathan Hodson. It is late evening on an acute psychiatry ward and I’m the on-call doctor responsible for clerking a new patient with acute psychosis. I look in the notes and see that despite a history of detention for paranoid schizophrenia, he has been well on an antipsychotic depot for 5 years. Why relapse […]
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 […]
Developing an honesty test for doctors
By Daniel Sokol. When not working as a barrister, I teach medical ethics to doctors who are going through disciplinary proceedings. The majority are in trouble because of dishonest conduct. They may have lied on a job application, cheated in a membership exam, or forged a document for personal gain. Medical Practitioners Tribunals have often […]