Thanks to Brian Earp for bringing this release from the US’ National Institute of Mental Health to my attention; it concerns the Institute’s decision to move away from DSM as its diagnostic tool. DSM has been enormously successful – in terms of having established itself at the centre of psychiatry – but it has been […]
Latest articles
JME Special Edition on Infanticide and “After-Birth Abortion”
It’s going to be a little while before regular blogging resumes here – I’m aiming to get back up to speed in the next 10 days or so – but, in the meantime, the special edition of the JME devoted to The Paper Of Which We Do Not Speak is now out and available here. […]
Conference: Compassion Fatigue: Changing Culture in the NHS
26-28 June, Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham (via Andrew Edgar) Can the language of compassion capture the moral problems confronted by the NHS, or might it obfuscate and distract us from more subtle and demanding issues? Through a series of plenary addresses, workshops, panels and shared opportunities for discussion, “Compassion Fatigue” will provide an opportunity […]
Cigarettes and Plain Packs: The Ad Campaign
Blogging here has been light for a little while, and probably will be for a little while longer because of Stuff and Things – but something caught my eye in Sunday’s Indy* that struck me as worth comment. It was a full-page advert placed by JTI, which describes itself in the small print as “a leading […]
Cutting Class: Thinking about Self-Harm without Disgust
Guest Post by Kerry Gutridge* and A.M. Calladine Imagine you are a doctor, nurse or teacher and someone in your care asks for a razor. The person you look after wants to slice into their own skin and draw blood. They are compelled to hurt themselves. They have an overwhelming urge to feel a momentary […]
A bit more on Circumcision
Maybe he should have been invited to contribute to the special edition: Somegreybloke seems to have the debate wrapped up perfectly… […]
Are Biomedical Ethics Journals Institutionally Racist?
So there’s this letter published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry that moots the idea that the top biomedical ethics journals might be institutionally racist. In it, Subrata Chattopadhyay, Catherine Myser and Raymond De Vries point out that the editorial boards of a good number of journals are dominated by members who are located in the global North – countries officially listed as […]
Male Circumcision and the Enhancement Debate: Harm Reduction, Not Prohibition
Guest Post by Julian Savulescu Around one third of men worldwide are circumcised. It is probably the most commonly performed surgical procedure. Circumcision is also one of the oldest forms of attempted human enhancement. It is and has been done for religious, social, aesthetic and health reasons. Circumcision has a variety of benefits and risks, […]
Journal of Medical Ethics – Special Issue on Circumcision
Guest Post by Brian Earp The Journal of Medical Ethics is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of a special issue – “The Ethics of Male Circumcision” – to be published in full in the coming days. Selected papers have already been posted Online First and can be seen by clicking here. Contributions cover a […]
Torture and Fitness to Practise
I’m running a bit late with this, but the BMJ reported last week that Mohammed Al-Byati had been suspended from the medical register for 12 months for complicity in torture. So far, the decision hasn’t been uploaded to the list of Fitness to Practise decisions, but the outline of the case is available here, on the […]