By Rosie Munday, Hugh Davies and Stephanie Jones with Oxford “A” Health Research Authority Research Ethics Committee Oxford “A” NHS REC is one of the four UK Research Ethics Committees flagged to review gene therapy proposals. Following the philosopher Mary Warnock’s sage advice “I do not believe you can make moral judgements unless, as far […]
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The right to pursue happiness on a healthy planet is a fundamental right
By Eric C Ip and Trevor T W Wan. Happiness and health determine what, why, and how we do what we do. There is a profound relationship between the two. The Constitution of the World Health Organization, a multi-lateral international treaty, proclaims in its preamble that health is ‘basic to the happiness’ of all peoples. Healthier […]
Heritable human genome editing: Who decides? Science or society?
By Françoise Baylis Many describe the move from bench to bedside (from basic science to therapeutic or preventive applications) as a sprint – a short quick race. Others suggest that the race (such as it is) is more like hurdles given the many obstacles that must be overcome. Still others prefer to think of the […]
Medical assistance in dying—is there a case for including persons with mental illness?
By Nicholas Delva, Anees Bahji Over the last couple of decades, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) has become legal in a few developed countries. Developments in this area have been primarily driven by patients, with general support from the population. Governments have been cautious in the development of legislation, which is not surprising given that […]
The carbon emissions of prescribing practices
By Cristina Richie. Health care has a carbon footprint, which contributes to climate change and climate change health hazards, like severe weather, flooding, tornadoes, drought, and anxiety. Carbon emissions come from health care structures and health care activities. Health care structures like hospitals and clinics rely on high-carbon use building materials, heat and cooling, water […]
Call for papers: Operationalising Fairness in Medical Algorithms
From the BMJ Health & Care Informatics: This special issue aims to bring together the growing community of healthcare practitioners, social scientists, policymakers, engineers and computer scientists to design and discuss practical solutions to address algorithmic fairness and accountability. We are inviting papers that explore ways to reduce machine bias in healthcare or create algorithms that […]
Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: Considering the potential impact on children’s consent to all medical treatment?
By Rebecca Limb and Liz James On 1st December 2020, the Tavistock judgment was published. The legal issue concerning the court was identifying the circumstances where a child, under the age of 18 diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria (GD), is competent to give valid consent to the administration of puberty blockers (PB). The judgment has made […]
Prize, Not a Price: How the right reward could solve the problem of kidney failure
By Aksel Braanen Sterri. Worldwide 1.2 million people are dying from kidney failure each year. The best treatment for kidney failure is a kidney transplant from a living donor, but too few people are willing to donate. In the paper, Prize, Not a Price: Reframing Rewards for Kidney Donors, I defend a way to meet […]
Corona solidarity: Beware! It may not be what you think
By Matti Häyry Already during the early weeks and months of the COVID-19 pandemic, many media outlets started to talk about “corona solidarity”. We are facing a crisis, they said, but we are pulling through with miraculous mutual support and everybody chipping in for the common good. I found this narrative suspect from the outset, […]
Medical ethics in the anthropocene – the health sector must divest from industries impacting planetary health
By Christian M. Schulz. The fifth mass extinction began 66 million years ago after an asteroid, measuring 10 kilometers in diameter, hit the peninsula of Yucatán. At the end of this huge loss of biodiversity, caused probably by ocean acidification, the most prominent victims were the dinosaurs. Currently, biodiversity is declining faster than at any […]