By Colin Farrelly The World Health Organization has designated the decade 2021-2030 as the “Decade of Healthy Ageing”. And the United Nations estimates that the 703 million persons aged 65 years or over in 2019 will double by 2050. I believe the aging of humanity is one of the most significant developments of the 21st century. […]
Category: Philosophy
A world without us
By Walter Glannon. At some point in the future, the human species may cease to exist. Extinction could result from an asteroid striking Earth, a pathogen overwhelming the immune system, the effects of climate change, or other events. We currently have no control over the first cause, some control over the second, and more control […]
Law and ethics in the time of COVID-19
By Neil Pickering In order to support its Alert Level 4 declaration, the New Zealand government has taken up extraordinary legal powers to control people’s lives. As Professor Andrew Geddis of the Otago University Faculty of Law is reported to have said: “These give the state extraordinary reach into our lives, and transfer extraordinary power […]
Oops! Mistakes and moral responsibility under COVID19
By Neil Pickering I’ve been pondering for some time about the use of the term ‘mistake’ to describe one’s actions, and this has been brought to the fore again by actions of government ministers during the COVID 19 pandemic. The BBC recently reported on the case of Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s chief medical officer. Calderwood […]
What Makes an Emergency?
By Iain Brassington Stanley Cavell died a few days ago. He is, I suspect, not widely known among medical ethicists, and is cited less. Fair enough: medical ethics wasn’t his thing. It’s a shame, though, because his work did strike me as being worth getting to know. This is not to say that I was familiar […]
Why the Parents of Both Charlie Gard and More Recently Alfie Evans Should Have Been Allowed to Decide About Their Sons’ Best Interests
Guest post by Raanan Gillon Re: Why the parents of Charlie Gard should have been allowed to decide on his best interests. This blog briefly summarises and adds to my paper due to appear in the JME’s forthcoming symposium on the case of Charlie Gard[1]. Because of the widespread unpopularity of my views amongst doctors, […]
The Children Missing from Nelson’s Column
By Iain Brassington There’s a cliché that says that hard cases make bad law. Truth be told, there’s a whole list of things that make, or make for, bad law. Highly visible public protests make for bad law. Lack of measured thought makes for bad law. Journalistic pressure makes for bad law. And anything – anything […]
Guest Post: The Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill: Some Objections Rebutted
David S. Oderberg, Professor of Philosophy, University of Reading On March 23rd 2018, the House of Lords will enter the Committee Stage of debate on the Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill, a Private Members’ Bill sponsored by Baroness O’Loan. It will be a time for line-by-line examination, with many amendments expected to be tabled both […]
Harmless Kidney Markets
Guest Post by Adam Shriver Note: this post was originally published at the Practical Ethics Blog Kidney transplants result in improved quality of life and increased longevity compared to dialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease (Evans et al. 1985, Schnuelle et al. 1998, Wolfe et al 1999). In 2014, the national transplant list in […]
A Quick Question about Conscientious Objection
By Iain Brassington Baroness O’Loan’s Conscientious Objection Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords yesterday. It’s only short, but there’s a part of it that I find a little perplexing. Section 1(1) says that No medical practitioner with a conscientious objection to participating in— (a) the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment; (b) any activity […]