And he’s going to blog about the experience. On Tuesday 6th November at around 7.30am I’ll be in a hospital room while a surgeon uses a marker pen to draw a line behind my ear. Soon after that, I’ll be wheeled into an operating theatre where they’ll make a small incision behind my ear, following […]
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Mouse Eggs: A Cool Solution to a First-World Problem?
The news that Japanese researchers have successfully induced skin cells to behave like viable eggs, which have then been fertilised to create a new generation of mice, may well come to be seen as a scientific milestone. And if it’s not that, it’s definitely very, very cool. (The original paper is here.) Though the research […]
Passive Euthanasia: A Cri de Cœur
Don’t worry: this isn’t another instance of me yammering on about the right to die or the right to induce death. I’ve recently received a parcel; it contained a copy of this book by Leanne Bell, which happened to fall open at p 204. On that page, you’ll find this passage: Active euthanasia involves a deliberate act […]
In Defence of Live Tweeting
Questions to which the Answer is Eh? What are you on about? No, really: what?, part 2: Should people who live-tweet conferences be thrown out and barred from future conferences? A story in IHE that concerned a debate (well, I say “debate”, but it was clearly a slow news day…) about the rights and wrongs of live-tweeting […]
But what if you Don’t Want to be Regulated?
The Malaysian Parliament has just approved a law about traditional medicine. The Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act is largely about the regulation of practitioners of TCM – notably, setting up a regulatory Council. According to section II (5) The Council shall have the following functions: (a) to advise the Minister on matters of national policy relating […]
Jon Cogburn’s Plea to Grad Students (and Others)
[IB: I’m taking the liberty of copying in its entirety Jon Cogburn’s post on NewAPPS about submitting papers to journals, because it’s worth reading. He directs it to graduate students – but I think that the same point applies to anyone, especially if they’re new to the field in which they’re writing. Since a lot […]
Mitochondrial Disease and the HFEA
Readers are probably aware of the consultation that the HFEA launched this week on the use of mitochondrial replacement to prevent certain illnesses. John Harris has a piece on it in The Guardian – and by gosh golly, he’s right*; the article is well worth a quick look. My own ha’p’orth: some of the stuff in the […]
R v Catt: The (Slightly Strange) Judge’s Remarks
Earlier today, Sarah Catt was jailed for 8 years for inducing the termination of her own pregnancy at 39 weeks’ gestation. The transcript of the comments of Mr Justice Cooke, sentencing, is available here. I don’t want for this to get bogged down in questions of the moral rights and wrongs of abortion, at whatever […]
Is Bioethics Really a Bully? Really?
On his blog in The Independent, John Rentoul has a long-running feature called “Questions to which the Answer is No“. In it, he examines the kind of screaming rhetorical-question headline much beloved of certain middle-market tabloids: “Is this photographic evidence of Nessie?”, “Does coffee cure cancer?”, “Does coffee cause cancer?”, “Does MMR bring down house prices?“* and […]
Revised CfP: 9th International Conference on Clinical Ethics Consultation
The deadline for submissions to this conference has been extended to that 15th October. Further details here. […]