There’s a very interesting article on the BBC news website at the moment concerning the decision of Jono, a man with Treacher Collins Syndrome, about whether or not to have children of his own. His having the syndrome himself has led to a number of difficulties – but he seems to have got off fairly lightly […]
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Assisted Dying for the non-Terminal
I’m a bit behind the curve with this, but I thought it worth noting the story of Nan Maitland, who recently travelled to Dignitas* at the start of March. She was suffering from arthritis – which, though painful, is a long way short of a terminal illness. (Her story is reminiscent of Robert and Jennifer […]
Conference: Global Health, Global Goods, and International Community
Public Lecture and Two Day Conference 1-3 June 2011 Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, The University of Manchester The two-day conference will focus on issues in global health and questions concerning shared commitments within the international community. It will bring together leading experts from academia and policy, representing a broad diversity of disciplinary backgrounds […]
Consultation: Emerging Biotechnologies
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has announced that it has opened a consultation on emerging biotechnologies: The Council is seeking views on the ethical issues posed by emerging biotechnologies. Your views will be valuable in shaping and informing the deliberations of a Working Party that was recently set up to consider this topic. The Working Party […]
Singer on the Value of Lives
Peter Singer had a piece in The Guardian last week comparing the way that we value lives around the world. He points out that when NATO accidentally kills Afghan civilians, it pays out compensation. This never goes above about £5000 per death. In comparison, NICE’s threshold for funding a treatment on the NHS is £20-30k […]
Medical Neutrality? The Red Cross and MSF
Adam Curtis is one of my favourite film-makers: I don’t think his programmes are always right, but they’re always provocative – and I think they’re more right than wrong. He also has a blog, which – though updated even less frequently than this one at the moment – is excellent. His latest post is about […]
Good News from Keele
It was announced yesterday that both the Centre for Professional Ethics, and the philosophy programme at Keele, have been spared the axe. From Angus Dawson’s Facebook message: We are delighted to announce that due to substantial discussions over the last two days the proposals to close PEAK (the Centre for Professional Ethics at Keele University) […]
Medical Ethics at Keele to be Axed?
This was supposed to be embargoed, but there’ve been enough leaks to make me think I can go public with it: news has emerged today that the Centre for Professional Ethics at Keele (PEAK) is facing the axe, as is the Keele Philosophy programme. A Senate Paper detailing the proposed cuts is widely available, and people […]
A New Standard for Medics: Perfection
Lord knows why, but I keep going back to Secondhand Smoke, the pro-life, global-warmin’-denyin’, public-healthcare-hatin’, intelligent-design-lovin’, Daily-Mail-quotin’ blog written by Discovery Institute affiliated lawyer Wesley Smith. I try to stay away, but like a child peeping between his fingers while hiding his eyes, I’m just fascinated by it. A recent post concerns a Kiwi woman […]
Placentophagy, Human Milk, and the Yuck-Factor
There’s an interesting post over at Science-Based Medicine about the practice of placentophagy: that is, placenta-eating. The piece points out that, while some eat it raw, it can also be cooked; eating it raw provokes the yuck factor. Speaking personally, I’m not sure that it’s rawness makes all that much difference here – but maybe […]